Elysium
by gemini-no-jellej
Summary: He committed the greatest sin of all. From that day on Death was following his every step, like a guardian angel. AU[Greek Mythology], lots of angst, pain and drama. Gruvia/Gajevy/Jerza/Miraxus/NaLu. Contains Bad Cop Lyon.
1. Chapter 1: Promises

**DISCLAIMER**: I don't own Fairy Tail, all characters from Fairy Tail belong to Hiro Mashima.

"_Run you stupid, run!_", those few words were echoing in her mind while she, a little girl no more than 10 years old was curling behind the trash can in a deserted alley. She was dressed in a blue trash bag, her pretty face was in high contrast with her shaved head.

She loved her hair, but the society have left her no other choice, they were looking for pretty girls for slavery. She was living in this wicked city for whole 10 years. Hades, that's what people living here were calling it, covered in eternal darkness, one of the reason behind it were buildings so high and big that there was no sunlight in this cursed place. That was also the main reason her skin was so pale. And now she was all alone, again.

"Stupid Gajeel-kun!", she was mumbling to herself, through tears.

Gajeel was her childhood friend, son of the miners, he had scary red eyes, long dark hair and metal piercings in his body, but now he was gone forever, they have taken him from her, her one and only friend. He gave up his freedom for her. If only she could see the sun and feel it warm, but in this damn place it sounded like a dream of a madman. No one ever get to the Olympus, that place was too well secured. Rumors said that people there were like demigods, they even say some of them are actually gods and have magical powers. She had also some powers, but they were more like a curse to her, because that constant rain was surrounding her since she could remember.

"Gajeel-kun, you fool!", she screamed, her head hid in her hands.

* * *

She had no memories of her family. No, Juvia had no family to begin with, but despite that she was happy. Little girl was living in Hades, probably the worst place in this cursed world, but she had someone that no one over there ever had, a true friend.

"Oi, Juvia stop daydreaming.", Gajeel said. There were in their hideout, because on the Hades' streets you could just get captured and sold as a slave or, what was even worse, raped and killed afterwards, that's why Juvia head was shaved, to do not bring any attention.

"Juvia is sorry Gajeel-kun, are we going for **the Trip** now?", **the Trip** was their daily ritual, they needed to find food, it was not an easy task for two little kids, but it was necessary for them in order to survive.

"Yep, but you need to be more careful. I have this weird feeling today.", he said and then grabbed a metal spoon and started to eat it. Juvia could never go over the fact that he somehow possessed Iron Dragon Slayer powers, but her friend never wanted to talk about how or when he managed to do it.

So they went to their standard looking-for-food place, which was the Olympus' dump. It was a place where all the leftovers from Olympus were sent. Juvia was always light-headed, so she was pretending it was some kind of a picnic.

"Would you like some fine bread, Gajeel-kun?", she asked happily, big smile on her pretty face.  
"Damn you girl, just hurry up and pick something.", he hurried her while he was watchfully looking around the dump, and in that very moment everything went wrong.

"So I guess we have found ourselves two new slaves, huh?", at those words Gajeel red eyes became wide, in the same time Juvia dropped the basket and was petrified with fear.  
"A young boy and girl, it's like hitting the jackpot,", two strangers smiled. Little boy recovered from the initial shock, and rushed at them with his bare fists.  
"Juvia run! Go as far as you can, I promise that I will find you." Gajeel yelled to his friend, while he was dodging strangers' attacks.  
"N-no, Ju-Juvia can fight too, Juvia wants to help Gajeel-kun!", she yelled, her voice shaking.

And right in that moment one of the slave hunters grabbed Gajeel from behind and immobilized him with some kind of silver wire.

"Now it's your turn, pretty face. I want to have some fun with you. He he he.", Juvia became pale, even paler than her usual self.  
"Run you stupid, run!", that were the last word she heard from Gajeel, before she started to run, tears were running down, her cheeks, but she was running, as her friend told her.

* * *

"He promised.", a faint smile appeared on her face when she was looking in the Hades black sky, her eyes were still red from crying. Suddenly she felt an arm grabbing her.

"Gotcha! You little bitch, you thought you can get away from us? You and your friend will make fine slaves on our ship.", Juvia was paralyzed with fear so much, that her body won't move even an inch.  
"Move you little runt!", he yelled at her, again. Still there was no reaction from the little girl, she felt pain in back of her head and her whole world went blurry, a few moments later she was unconscious.

"Stupid brat, look what you made me to do."

* * *

There was fire everywhere, burned bodies on the streets, it was like a bloody carnage, the smell of decay was hanging in the air.

"So they were able to finally break the city defenses, huh?", a woman said to herself, she was looking of what was left of the outer district of Olympus. Captain of the 7th Demi-corps squad, Ur Milkovich, she was wearing blue jeans and black, leather jacket with big roses as an emblem on its back and smaller one on her right shoulder.

"Damn those cursed demons from Hades.", she said out loud, when suddenly she noticed a little boy, lying under the debris, she instantly rushed towards him.

"Hey! Are you okay, boy?", there was no answer from him, his eyes were empty and he just keep mumbling one word "Deliora...".

* * *

"Can I finish the dinner later, mom?", little, raven haired boy asked.  
"Na-a-a, you know that you must eat all the food, honey", she said with care in her voice.

"But mooooooooooooom.", Gray was relentless.  
"No excuses!", his mom said more firmly this time.  
"Nyaaaaagh, ok.", small boy said resigned.

"He is a really stubborn kid.", Gray's father said, a big smile spread across his face, he was a handsome man, his hair was raven black just like his son's, but they were swept-back, he also had cross-like earrings and a breastplate.

"You were no better when you were younger, Silver-sama.", woman said with joy.  
"I said you a dozen times that I don' really like this -sama thing.", father stated bluntly.  
"Oooooooooh really, Silver-sama?", she was trying to irritate her husband, that was her favorite thing to do.

"Ok I finished, can me and dad play outside now?", boy asked.  
"Yes, but try not to get too dirty this time.", Silver's wife said with care.  
"Yes! It's play time!" Silver and Gray yelled in unison.

They were playing ice hockey, Silver was the captain of the Olympus Defensive Garrison and as an ice demigod he had ice powers, so there was always plenty of snow and ice in their huge backyard, despite the fact that in Olympus there was never such thing as winter. Silver was absorbed with the game, when suddenly Gray asked a rather unusual question.

"Where did that smoke came from, dad?", little Gray asked pointing with his finger at the big dark cloud. In a second his father's face become dead serious.  
"Go to your room and do your homework, son", Silver said, his eyes, full of concern, were set on the main entrance to the city.  
" But I don't want to!", Gray responded bluntly.  
"I said now!", boy have never seen his father so serious before, so he practically run to his room in an instant.

After ten minutes, he hear a loud **crash**, it felt like an earthquake, he tried to get out of his room, but the doors were somehow locked. There was another crash, which made him even more nervous. In that very moment he heard his mother voice coming from the other side of the door.

"Gray darling, you can't leave this room, promise me that you will not leave this room, no matter what.", she said, her voice was faint.  
"Mom, I'm scared, what's happening?", boy was confused, the booming sound was getting louder and louder, as if it was moving closer to their house.  
"Promise me that you won't leave this room", his mother repeated.

"I... I promise, mom", he said, his voice was shaking.  
"Gray, honey..., I wish... I wish I could be there with you and give you a goodbye kiss.", his mother said, tears were running down her cheeks. He could hear her crying which made him scared, like he was never before in his life.

"Mom?", he asked one last time before he saw it, big dreadful eye was watching him through his window. He was paralyzed with fear, the last thing he saw that day was a devilish grin on the monster's face, he recognized it from his father's book, the one that he was never supposed to read, what he actually did a few times, but only when his parent were away, that book was about demon slaying and the monster's name was **Deliora**.

* * *

Ur was scanning the ruins of the house, that strange little boy passed out so she called and emergency squad, when they arrived they took him to the hospital.

"Where that little brat has learned about Deliora... , huh?",she spotted a woman under the debris. She walked over there slowly, because she was unable to sense any signs of life coming from there. When she removed the debris covering the corpse, her eyes saw a massacred female body, but there was something in her hand, it was a silver cross-like necklace.

* * *

I decided to relaunch my old fic(90k+), but I desperately need a Beta/Proofreader. If you're interested in stories like this please send me a message.


	2. Chapter 2: Beginnings

Juvia woke up in unfamiliar room, the stench of rotten food was so strong, that she almost fainted.

Rocking of the boat was making little girl nauseous, her eyes were looking for some doors or something, sadly there was none. But she could hear voices coming from above, so she was listening to them carefully, as if her life was depending on it.

"What should we do with those brats?", her kidnapper said to his comrade.  
"How should I know? We were supposed to sell them, but who will buy a bald ten years old girl from us, huh?", man said with concern in his voice.

"And what about that crazy lil boy?", there were talking about Gajeel, Juvia's heart skipped a bit. _So Gajeel-kun, was alive, thanks gods_, she thought and smiled to herself.  
"We should beat that little bastard to the pulp, but there is a better punishment for him… the Martyrs Army", he said, a big grin spread across his face.  
"You can't be serious, this fate is worse than death, kid won't stand a day there.", her kidnapper said shocked in response to his friend words.

If there were left any colors on Juvia's face, they were all drained in an instant, because of the words they just said. "Martyrs Army", she mumbled to herself, her eyes fulfilled with fear, her whole body was shaking.

Martyrs Army was a cohort of martyrs, 600 people damned by the gods and fate itself. Each of the future soldiers needed to pass the Ritual, made by Hades himself. It was split in three parts. First you were tossed into the pitch black pit, where you must eliminate all of your 20 opponents.  
In the second part they command you to take a full body bath in Styx in order to become invincible, but only two out of the hundred candidates could survive this, because of the souls and bodies that were wandering in the river's depths, just waiting to take one's life in exchange for the one that their had lost.  
Third part was the worst of all, but it didn't affect your body in any way, no it would be too simple, too merciful. Last step was taking a sip from Lethe, which would result in a full memory loss.

Juvia dropped to her knees, " Gajeel-kun will forget about Juvia and his promise to her, Juvia will be all alone again...", she said , tears were running down her cheeks.

"So we're back to the girl, what we will do with her?" she could her that kidnappers were arguing once again.  
"We will sell her, you idiot.", the other man said while he was hitting his comrade in the head with his fist.  
"But to who?"  
"Thanatos.", one of them said, evil grin appeared on his face.  
"Ooooooh, Thanatos..."  
"Damn it, why it is raining?"  
"Dunno, you can't see anything in this cursed place"

"T-Thanatos ", this name was carved in her mind, no, more like it was in the mind of every living person in this wicked world. With the sound of this name she had lost all of her will and hope for anything.  
"He was the god of death, why they want to sell Juvia to him it doesn't make any sense for Juvia", she mumbled to herself. There was nothing other left for the little girl than lying and crying in the stinking room. Her future was sealed.

* * *

"Let me out you fucking bastards!", Gajeel yelled at his kidnappers. He was trapped inside some sort of a box, barely able to made a move, too weak from hunger to do anything that could help him escape from his cursed little prison.

"Shut up you little brat, soon you will be free.", one of the men said, it made Gajeel even more confused.  
"Yes, you will be free, he he he", second kidnapper said with a devilish grin, now little boy was really concerned about his life.

Thud! They dropped the box and opened its top, Gajeel could finally see black sky of Hades. He jumped out of the box and started looking around; in the matter of seconds he became petrified. He was in the Martyrs Army's barracks courtyard.

"This can't be happening, please take me somewhere else I will do anything, everything but not the Martyrs Army!", he was yelling frantically to his kidnappers.  
"Sorry kid, you are useless to us, have fun here.", one of them said sarcastically and they just left, with smiles across their faces. Gajeel was standing there unable comprehend what just happened for at least 10 minutes.

Suddenly a big figure appeared behind his back.

"Ooooo what we get here, fresh meat, e? I can sense that you're scared not very manly of you, boy.", huge man said to him.  
"My name is Elfman Strauss I'm in command here, and you are?", he asked.  
Nothing...  
"Oi, kid I just asked you a question", still nothing, Gajeel just stood in the middle of courtyard.

Bam! Reptile like fist connected with kid's jaw and sent him flying into the barrack front doors.  
"The hell is wrong with you, you shithead mutant?", boy yelled at Elfman, whose hand was back to its shape.  
"Ooooooh so you do know how talk.", man said, he was clearly teasing the little kid.  
"It's Gajeel, Gajeel Redfox.", he finally responded, still massaging his jaw.

General walked slowly towards the kid, who was looking at him with suspicious eyes, and grabbed him by the collar of his ripped shirt.  
"Oi, what are you doing, you shithead!?", Gajeel was trying to break free but there was no use.  
They were walking towards a big, pitch black pit, Gajeel knew what was about to happen, but he still couldn't believed it, that whole situation was like a nightmare to him.  
"Martyrs Army's test, begins now. Oh and make sure you say hello to your new friends down there. Be a man and at least try to survive, kiddo." Elfman said before he tossed little boy into the pit.

When Gajeel got up from the ground, after the fall, he saw twenty pairs of eyes, they were looking at him, but all of them were empty and soulless. At that moment he began his fight, in order to survive he must kill all those people. His eyes momentarily became empty, and he said only just one thing to them ,"I promise to make it quick."

"That kid should be dead right now", Elfman thought, but surprisingly he was wrong, so very wrong.  
"Iron Dragon's Roar!", big tornado appeared in place where the pit was, throwing out shredded bodies of sinners that were sent there.  
"Iron Dragon's Sword!", General walked to the edge of the pit, only to heard little boy who was yelling to him "I defeated them, now let me out of here!", Elfman smiled.  
"Very manly of you, boy. Let us start the second part of the test then!"

After a while Gajeel and other participants were at the coast of Styx, the cursed river.  
"Now all of you excuses of a man must dive in this river, just do it manly!", General said pointing at the river.

Styx was no ordinary river you could hear voices coming from it, see faces that were underwater. Gajeel slowly and carefully entered the river, when he was neck-deep in it something grabbed him and pulled to the bottom, but he managed to catch his last breath before that happened. Water was bloody red, but Gajeel was able to notice two characters there, but he wasn't ready for what he saw. His parents, they were making gestures to him to come closer.  
He missed them so much, while he was getting closer to them, they started changing into monstrosities, but it was too late for him to turn back. _It looks like I will die, tch,_ he thought, while his mind was drifting off. But then remember the promise he made to his one and only friend, Juvia.

_Shit, shit , shit I can't just die like this, she's waiting for me,_ but it was too late, he began to lose consciousness.  
Suddenly Gajeel felt something pulling him to the top, something big, it was General Elfman's bear-like hand.  
"Cough!", little boy was dramatically gasping for air, coughing up red water from his lungs, "Why you saved me? I thought you said that we were pathetic", Gajeel asked surprised.

"You were the only excuse of a man worth saving from all this trash.", and then boy saw it, no one else made it, he was the lone survivor. Gajeel was still soaking wet from the previous test when he was standing on the coast of another river with Elfman Strauss, Hades' General. This time it was Lethe and he was going to experience complete memory loss.

"Are you ready for the final step, boy?", General asked.  
"Yeah, but there's one thing I must do before.", Gajeel said and changed one of his fingers into razor sharp blade. Elfman was watching curiously while the kid was carving a sentence on his arm with it.

"Remember the rain, huh?", shapeshifter asked him.  
"I made a promise.", Gajeel eyes were full of determination.  
"Promise you say? It looks like you are a man after all, now drink this.", Elfman said while he was giving the boy bowl full of water from the Lethe river.

And the boy drunk it.

"Where the fuck am I?", Gajeel asked, his eyes were lost.  
"You are a soldier in Hades' Martyrs Army, you must obey his orders, no matter what.", Elfman said emotionless, kid was looking suspiciously at him.  
"Ok, lets say that Hades' wish is my command.", Gajeel's arm was hurting as hell, he looked at it and saw a strange sentence.  
"Remember the rain? What the fuck this even mean?! This shit hurts like hell", boy yelled, but Elfman grabbed him by his shoulder, to made him calm a little bit.  
"It's a promise, that a certain man have made.", General said, while they were returning to the barracks.

* * *

As days were passing by she became even paler and thinner, sometimes it amused her that she started looking like Death herself.

"Come out little girl, it's time for you to make us rich.", one of the men said, when they have arrived to their destination. Her hands were tied up, the rain was still raining, but she couldn't care less. After twenty minutes of walking they stopped before small, suspiciously looking hut.

"Great Thanatos we came here to offer you this young maiden", Juvia was really surprised when the hut door opened and she saw a man of average height, with strange orange hair, he definitely didn't look like a god of Death.  
"Thanatos is unavailable, what do you want?", man asked, he was looking like he have slept all day.  
"What you mean by 'he is unavailable' ?" , one of the kidnappers said, unsure of what orange haired man said earlier.  
"It's simple. I killed Thanatos and Hypnos, now I'm both Death and Sleep." weird man said.  
"Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha", kidnappers were just laughing, when strange man made a simple gesture with his hand followed by those words "Perish, stupid fools.", his face dead was serious.

And just like that the kidnappers turned into ash, there was no noise of agony Juvia was standing there petrified with fear, she didn't know what to do with herself, should she ran or stay and beg for mercy.

"Oooooh you are so pretty, come inside little girl, you are soaked wet", he said and she just did as the god has told her. Inside the hut there were only one room, but it was big enough to contain a hundred people, surely it was some kind of twisted, god's magic. There was a fluffy carpet on the floor, Juvia liked it, because it was tingling her feet. There were two armchairs in the nearest corner, where the orange haired man was going. Furniture was made from fine oak, "What a strange taste he has", Juvia thought. When they finally sat down conversation has started.

"Why are you so quiet?", he asked there was concern in his voice  
"Juvia was always shy..." , she was able to replied after a short time.  
"Call me Loke you're an adorable child, you know?", he said smiling sincerely to her,  
"Yes, Loke-dono.", she replied blushing slightly, she didn't know why this man was so nice to her.

"Sooo what are we going to do with you? Hmmm... I know! I will make a Death goddess, since I really hate to do this Death job part, and if I don't start to do it properly Hades will come here and kill me, and I do not want this to happen.", Juvia thought it was some kind of cruel joke, that man couldn't be serious.  
But then Loke stood up and placed one of his hands on her forehead. Juvia's world got blurry for a moment and after that she could feel something on her back. She ran as fast as she could to the closest mirror, her eyes became wide when she saw them. Black feather wings had grow out of her back. She looked at Loke and he just said, smiling "You will make a beautiful Death Goddess, you know?"

She was now Death, a Death that brings rain wherever she goes.

_"And there the children of dark Night have their dwellings,  
__Sleep and Death, awful gods.  
__The glowing Sun never looks upon them with his beams,  
__neither as he goes up into heaven,  
__nor as he comes down from heaven. "_

"Now, let me tell you about Avatars Crisis", Loke said when she was back in her seat.

* * *

Ur was staring at the boy who was lying in the hospital bed, for like half an hour, but his eyes were still empty, no it was more like they were filled with darkness, which was slowly eating Gray from inside.

"So how do you know about Deliora, kid?", she asked her gaze was still set on boy's face.  
"It doesn't matter, nothing matters until I kill Deliora", kid said with anger while he was clenching fists, his eyes were dead serious.  
"Woooooah, woooah Gray let's not make rash decisions here", Ur was trying to calm him down a little bit.  
"How do you know my name?", boy asked the captain of 7th Demi-corps squad.  
"Let me say I am your father's old friend. Oh and I've found this under the debris, you know what this may be?", she showed to him silver cross-like necklace.  
"Give me that!", he yelled at her, trying to take the necklace from her.  
"Easy kid, I will give you that if you will become my disciple, so I can watch over you and make sure that you won't do anything stupid."  
"Hmpf! Why are you want another disciple, am I not enough for you Ur?", Gray had realized that there was another person in the room. White haired boy was standing in the corner, his eyes glued on Ur.  
"Lyon you know that I love you like my own child, there is no reason to be insecure" , she said, there was concern in her voice.

Silence...

"If I will become your disciple will you teach me how to use magic?" , Gray asked, his eyes were set on the ceiling.  
"Yes.", captain answered simply.  
"But first tell me boy what you know about this world?", this question caught the boy off guard.  
"Emmm... there are two cities Hades and Olympus, right?", he answered uncertain of his reply.  
"Pffff, so you know nothing, and you want to become Ur's disciple, how pathetic.", white haired boy said. Gray was starting to hate that kid, even though he didn't know him.  
"There are actually 5 cities", Ur said and Grey eyes get wide.  
"5?!", he asked with disbelief.  
"Yes, you know Olympus the place where you were since you have been born , you should be also aware of Hades since your house was in the Olympus outer district and your father was the captain of the Olympus Defensive Garrison", Gray ground his teeth when she reminded him of his father.

"But there are three more. First of them is Tartaros used as a dungeon of torment and suffering for the wicked as well as a prison for demons. This hellish city lies deep beneath Hades. We can't forgot about Elysium a paradise in such a wicked place like Hades, gods sure have twisted sense of humor, don't you agree? And the last is Arcadia located on the other end of Olympus borders.", Gray was absorbing each word carefully. He had no idea that, there were such a thing like paradise in Hades or even about Arcadia, he was wandering what kind of beings were living in places like that.

"And what about Avatars Crisis?", Gray asked, immediately regretting his question, Ur become pale, her eyes wide and full of anxiety.  
"Lyon get out!", she yelled at Lyon, white haired boy was scared but managed to ask one question "But Ur what is this whole Avatar Crisis?"  
"I SAID GET OUT!", at this words she threw Lyon out of the room, slamming the doors behind him.  
"Where did you learn about Avatar Crisis, kid?", Gray was too scared to answer, because he could feel, that Ur was dead serious.  
"ANSWER ME KID!", she yelled at him while she was grabbing him by his neck and picking him up.  
"I-I read about it in a book...", Gray answered, he was frightened.  
"Where is that book?", she asked while she was putting the kid back in his bed.  
"It was in our home.", Gray replied still scared.  
"Good it means that it was destroyed, so what you exactly know about Avatars Crisis?", she asked, it was looking like she finally calmed down.

"Not so long ago the Old Gods were trying to achieve some kind of ultimate power, which was even more greater than their own, while they had the means they didn't have the knowledge, so they asked a great human wizard to help them...", Gray started.  
" Yes and he tricked them, his punishment was an instant death by the gods wrath, but more importantly the spell that gods cast with wizard, this spell had make them..."  
"… mortals.", the kid finished.  
"Correct. They had remained their powers and eternal youth but from that day on mortals are able to kill gods and take their powers to themselves. And that's how Avatars Crisis started."  
"But seriously I don't think a mortal would be able to kill a god", Gray said relaxed.  
"You are wrong kid, the Pantheon of Gods had changed a few times from that day.", she said, her face was somehow sad.

A few days later, Gray was able to leave hospital with his own strength, so Ur decided to let him go for a walk to the place where once stood his home. His forehead, chest and left arm were bandaged and a cross-like silver necklace was on his neck. But instead of mourning his dead parents Gray was digging through the debris, he was looking for something.

"I found you.", he said to himself. Boy was holding in his hands a black, burned book; two golden hammers were decorating its cover.


	3. Chapter 3: Prophecy

Gray was sitting behind his desk, filling some of his reports.  
"Man I hate doing this paper work", he said to himself. He was stuck here because of the casual damage he made in his last fight with Hades' scouts.

_Knock,knock,knock._

"Come in". in the door was standing white haired good looking man.  
"Man, you are still here?", Lyon said, his eyes were stuck on the pile of papers on Gray's desk.  
"Shut up!", Gray replied angrily. _Great now it's paperwork and Lyon_, he though.  
"If you were only able to use your brain in fight, but nooooooo. You are always so reckless, how do you even survived all those fights", he was clearly teasing Gray.  
"I said shut up, which part of shut up you don't understand, you pathetic excuse of an ice mage.", Gray was becoming more and more irritated.

"Tch,I stopped by to say that I got that promotion that I was hoping for", Lyon said in his defense.  
"Ahhhhhh main strategist, was it? Congratulations, now get out so I can finish filling up these damn papers."  
"I will be in Ur office, come see us later", Lyon said while he was leaving Gray's office.  
"Whatever, just go!", Gray yelled at him one last time.

Gray has finally finished his paper work, after two hours. He put on his white coat and checked his pockets if he has got everything. When he was done, he closed his office and looked at the title on the door "**_Colonel Gray Fullbuster, the Icesmith_**." When he was walking down the hall all the people in the building were looking at him with respect, despite he was just eighteen years old he was one of the most skilled soldiers in terms of combat in the entire city. He just couldn't do anything else but smiled to himself. Finally he reached the door with label "**_Major General Ur Milkovich, the Icerose, 7th Demi-squad captain._**"  
He knocked. "Come in", well know voice said, inside the office was his master and Lyon.

"You are late, Gray", she was sitting behind big, mahogany desk, picture of her and two little boys was decorating her desk, there was also a bouquet of red roses in a vase, her whole office was two times bigger than Gray's.  
"I was doing some shitty paper work", Gray said in his defense.  
"Watch you language Gray! Ur's here", Lyon said, vein was popping on his forehead.

_These two are so different_, Ur thought.

There were two kinds of Ice Magic, static and dynamic. Even that they both were using the ice element, they were different like day and night. Static magic was all about making mainly weapons or influencing environment for the users advantage, this kind of magic was more depending on user fighting skills and his stamina; the other one, the dynamic magic was focusing on making animated object for the user advantage such as birds, giant tigers or even mighty dragons.

That's how Gray and Lyon have got their titles from gods themselves; it was a very rare thing to happen.

_**The Icesmith**_ was fitting Gray's magic perfectly. He was in favor of Ares, god of war, because of his unmatched combat skill and Hephaestus a god of smithing, because Gray's favorite creations were deadly weapons.

Lyon on the other hand was different, he was using dynamic magic to made powerful ice dragons, apes and tigers that were gigantic in size. He was always more of a strategist than a raw solider, always attacking from the second line, commanding his creations, evading hand to hand combat. His new title was "_**Main Strategist, Lyon Vastia the Cold**_", because of his cold calculations. Vastia's patrons were Athena goddess of wisdom and Artemis goddess of wilds, who gave him inspiration and permission to use the shapes of the wildest beast.

Ur always loved those boys as her own sons. They have known that even that they were so different from each other in every aspect of their lives, when their master asked them they would obey her with no questions. And now they were celebrating Lyon promotion with jokes laughter and a little bit of wine that Lyon bought for that special occasion.

"Gray your clothes! The hell is wrong with you man!", Lyon yelled at Gray.  
"Dammit not again", Gray said resigned.  
"Ah, you will never change, Gray." Ur said there was a big smile on her face.  
"Heh, I guess I will not", the Icesmith responded, his mind was drifting off.

Stripping habit was something that Gray obtained when he was younger and was training with Ur and Lyon in the highest of the Olympus mountains. In order to feel the ice and cold they were obligated to train in nothing more than underwear, but Gray was so fond of it that he was keeping stripping everywhere and he was making it unconsciously. This was very hard when he has joined the army, because he was getting a lot of punishments for it such as cleaning the bathroom with toothbrush. Somehow he managed to stop it but when he was in a safe place and with his close friends his old habit was still kicking in.

**_BAM!_** The door has opened with a great force and there was a young man standing in them, he was wearing a loose pants, leather vest, scarf and pink hair. He had some scales on his face and long red lizard tail.

"Yo ice brain. I was looking for you it's time to go. Oh you stripped already? Put something on, I really like boobies but not yours, no offense", the man said. Gray hit him in the stomach with full force.

"What you just said, Flame pants?" and so they started to fight, tearing Ur office apart.

"Get the hell out of my office", Ur said, sending them death glare, they immediately stopped fighting an ran off the building to evade scary woman's wrath.  
"So it's time, heh.", Gray said to the pink haired man.  
"Yep, so let's go", man said. And so they went in the direction of Ares' temple.

Natsu Dragneel ,**_ Salamander_** was Gray's close friend, but he was also a royalty, son of the King of Arcadia Igneel, what is more his father was an actual dragon. Natsu didn't know his mother, they said to him that she has died during the childbirth. Arcadia was truly an Utopia, there was no hunger nor war, they got no soldiers there it was the most peaceful place in the world. But Igneel had taught Natsu the Fire Dragon Slayer secrets, that he would know how to defend himself in Olympus. As a man from Arcadia Natsu was trustful and friendly to everyone, which sometimes meant troubles. because he was able give all his money to some homeless guy. Natsu's patrons were Ares god of war, because of his unmatched hand to hand combat and Zeus the god of sky, cause of his dragon and royal roots.

They were like the total opposites, Fire &amp; Ice but they were also best friends, although neither of them would admit it.

Finally there were at the foot of Ares temple. They got inside and saw the high priestess of Ares

Erza Scarlet,**_ Titania_**. She was like an older sister to them, but she also could be very scary. Erza was an orphan found at the doors of temple, people said that she was the daughter of Ares and Athena themselves, because of her wisdom and legendary sword skills. She was also very pretty but she always wear her armor on. What is more Titania was a Knight Magic user, which means she could change hear armor and weapons in an instant, gossips says that some of her equipment was made by Hephaestus himself.

" Natsu, Gray are you ready to perform the ritual?", high priestess asked, smiling to them.  
"Just let us change and we will start it in the no time!" men said in unison.  
"Ok, but you will be better no fighting in here", she said as she was sending them death glares and they were scared. After few minutes Natsu and Gray were back in white togas and started the ritual which was a fight-like dance in front of the Ares statue. Erza sat on her stone throne and was just watching as her friends were moving in perfect synchronization, performing the ritual.

* * *

"Gah, it was a long day", Gray said, he was in his apartment, which was little but quite cozy.

There was one room with kitchenette and of course bathroom and a bedroom. There were various weapons as scythes, one handed and two handed sword, axes, hammers even one cannon model hanging on the walls. Gray disliked defense, he did not use defensive ice magic unless it was necessary, because death in the fight was not an option for him. He went to the bedroom and picked up an old book from his night table.

"Soon..." , was all he said while looking and it.

* * *

Eight years have passed since Juvia obtained her Death goddess powers, she had now wavy, long blue hair and was wearing a black dress, her wings didn't bother her anymore, what was bothering her was the rain which was raining constantly for past eight years. She was now on her assignment.

Death goddess job was a strange job, she couldn't take personally all of the lives, but Loke said that she should do it as often as she could. This time she went to a lonely home on the outskirts of Olympus, rain was following her, she phased through the door and went to the small room. There was a whole family gathered around a bed. All of the people were crying, lifeless little boy was lying in his bed. She hated her role, but thankfully nobody could see her expect for the dead ones or the ones blessed with the gods favor.

"Who are you miss?", spirit of the little boy asked her, his eyes were lost.  
"Juvia's here to take you to a better place. What's your name?", she asked the confused boy.  
"I'm Egidio, nice to meet you miss, you are beautiful.", he answered, Juvia blushed slightly.  
"Thank you Egidio", she smiled to him.

She cut the golden thread, which was linking child's soul and body.

"Can we take mom and dad too?", boy asked sheepishly.  
"No we can't it's a secret place, you know.", she replied, her eyes became gloomy.  
"Ok..." , boy said sadly.

Juvia took boy's hand and led him out of the room, when they were outside she took boy on her arms and flew in the direction of the Hades main gate. The rain was always making it hard for her but she was used to it. After a few minutes they were standing before the main gate to the Underworld. She said something, that boy couldn't understand and the door started to open. Behind them was a monstrous dog with three heads, his eyes were bloody red and something like acid was dropping out of his mouth. Boy was so scared that he hid behind Juvia's back.

"Wha-what is this monster?!", boys asked pointing at the dog.  
"Oooh he's Cerberus Juvia's beloved puppy!", she said, boy was rather astonished with her answer. Juvia ran towards the dog, once he recognized her the hell-hound started immediately shrinking to the size of the normal dog.  
"Who's the good boy? Yes, you are the good boy.", she was playing with the dog as if he was a puppy.  
"Come here and try it Egidio!", boy got closer to the dog and started to petting him carefully in return dog had licked his hand, it was nice.  
"Juvia will come back later, she promise", Death said to the hell-hound and he whined, but he let her go.  
"Why he was so friendly? Doesn't he supposed to be guarding the Underworld?", boy asked.  
"He is. He will catch and bring back every being that will try to leave this place, but not the ones that are entering", Juvia explained.

They went further into the deeps of Hades. They were walking until Juvia spotted a certain boatman. Charon was the ferryman of the Underworld who carried souls of the newly deceased across the river Styx, the living had no rights to enter his boat. He as wearing a long coat and a hood, so you couldn't see his features, but his hands were so skinny that they were reminding those of a skeleton.

"Hello Charon-san", Juvia greeted a rather suspiciously looking man.  
"Tsk, it's you again... and this damned rain, I hate you! You heard me woman?!", Charon replied grumpily.  
"Let us get over with it, do you have the coin boy?", he continued.  
"Huh?", boy was surprised by the question.  
"Just open your mouth Egidio", Juvia said, there was a coin for Charon in the boy's mouth. The coin was a payment for Charon to transport the soul of dead to the Elysium, it was a tradition that the family of the dead one will put it in his mouth.  
"You can enter the boat, boy", the boatman said.  
"Are you going with me miss?", boy asked, there was hope in his voice.  
"Juvia is not going Egidio, but Elysium is a nice place, you will like .", she placed a goodbye kiss on the boy's forehead.  
"Bye miss", he hugged her.

When finally Charon set the boat she flew back to her home. Yes, home she got a place like that in this wicked world. She was living with Loke-san this entire time. He taught her how to remain sane. First years were rough, she was a little girl and she was obligated to took people lives, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't take her own life. She was back in home lying and crying like every other day.

"Was it a little kid again?, Loke asked.  
"Y-yes", Juvia answered him, she was still crying.  
"If I had know that it would be so hard for you to cope with it I would have never make you a Goddess of Death", his eyes were full of concern.  
"N-no Juvia is grateful for that, if not for Loke-san she would be killed back then", she sat up on her bed.  
"You know that there is a way to make yourself forget...", Loke started, but Juvia interrupted him  
"No! Juvia will never make such a thing."

They were talking about water from Lethe, it will make her forget everything, but that was meaning, that she would also forget about Gajeel and that was not an option for her.

_Juvia will be waiting for him as long as she needs to_, she knew from the souls of fallen soldiers that he was alive, but he lost his memory due to Martyrs Army's test.

"You need help with falling asleep?, Loke asked with care.  
"Yes Juvia will be more than pleased, if Loke-san can help her", she said to him, her cheeks were still wet from tears.  
"Ok, just... just relax." , he said and placed his hand on her forehead. Juvia felt instantly into deep slumber.

_If only I could make her happy for once_, Loke thought.

* * *

"Gah!" Gajeel woke up in his tent, his whole body was covered with cold sweat. This damn nightmare never let him sleep, it was always the same.  
He was standing in front of his 10 year old self in the rain, little him was pointing at the sky and always repeating just one word "Remember". This was truly an irritating dream. He went out of his tent to catch some fresh air. It was looking like everybody was sleeping, but he noticed a big figure near the campfire, at the center of the campsite. He walked up there an he saw General Elfman. Now they were both sitting near the campfire, in silence when the big man spoke

"You had another one?", Elfman asked, his eyes focused on the fire.  
"Yep", Gajeel replied.  
"Wanna talk about it?"  
"Nope."  
"Tsk, not very manly, but do as you like, kid."

Elfman and Gajeel became a good friends in this eight years that have passed. Gajeel was now brigadier general in Martyrs Army, mainly because of his fighting skill and relentless in combat, there was no one who has started a fight with him and lived. His title was **_the Bloodseeker_**_._ Elfman was still a General in Martyrs Army.

"Any reports coming lately from your sister?", Gajeel asked curiously.  
"She didn't report in a while but nothing to worry about, she's stronger than me or even us both."

Gajeel gulped, she hear legends about Mirajane Strauss. People were saying that she was able to use demon souls for her own use, she was in command of the infiltration squad.

"How long is she there?", Gajeel asked again.  
"About 3-4 years", general replied his eyes were still watching the flame.  
"Do you think they will reveal her true identity?", Iron Dragon Slayer asked curiously.  
"My sister is very cunning and relentless, she will complete her task no matter what.", Elfman answered.

Strauss' family history was a sad one even for someone as dense as Gajeel. It was hard to believe but there was a time they were living in Olympus. Elfman, Mirajane and their little sister Lisanna. The last one was a taboo in the Martyrs Army, anyone who mentioned that name was instantly eradicated by the Strausses. When they were living in the blessed city an incident has taken place. Elfman was no more than 14 years old, and his shape shifting skills were not so good as they are this day, but he attempted a full body transformation. And then it all happened, he went berserk and was destroying everything in his sight, even his older sister Mirajane couldn't help it, but just evade his attacks, he was like a spirit of the wilds. An then his little sister Lisanna tried to refer to his human side, but there was no use. She became another casualty of that slaughter. When Demi-corps squad finally get a hold of Elfman, quarter of the city inner district was destroyed.

Strausses were banished from Olympus forever. but what is more important little Lisanna was killed by her own brother. Elfamn couldn't get over it, he was a mess in that time. But after the Lisanna's funeral, a certain man approached Strauss siblings. He was wearing a black coat, the only things visible from under his hood were his blue hair and a tattoo on the right part of his face. He said, that he could bring their little sister back, but for a certain promise. Strausses agreed, which was their another mistake, because that man was Hades himself. He promised to bring Lisanna back from Elysium, but the two of them must have became his champions. From that day on Strauss Family was cursed with an oath of loyalty to Hades.

Elfman was assigned as a General of the Martyrs Army and Mirajane was the captain of infiltration squad. And they were like that for 14 years. Hades allowed them to remain their memories in order for them to remember why they should obey his each order without any hesitation.

* * *

In the Apollo Temple lived a young maiden, her name was Wendy Marvel, **_the Oracle_**. She was chosen by the Apollo, she spoke for him. She was found an the stairs of the temple when she was a little baby. The priestesses have raised her as one of them and when she hit fourteen Apollo himself decided to made her his Oracle. And so from that time on her life was a bliss, everybody worshiped her as a goddess, but she was a little lonely and had no friends besides Titania, Icesmith and young Dragneel. She was really eager to see them the next day.

Suddenly her world became blurry and she passed out, when she regained her consciousness, there was a crowd of priestesses surrounding her.

"Wha-what happened?", she asked she was still feeling weak.  
"Apollo have spoken through your mouth child", high priestess replied.  
"And what has he said, high priestess?", Wendy was exhausted but really excited to hear her prophecy, so far there were only good things that he spoke through her.  
"Certain man needs to be killed", high priestess said emotionless.  
"Wh-what?!" Wendy asked shocked.  
"Gray Fullbuster the Icesmith, must be stopped before he will bring bring death to this city.", the older one said.  
"It can't be Gray, it's impossible it must have been some kind of mistake", Wendy dropped to her knees, mumbling to herself, her hands on her face, tears running down her cheeks.  
"Apollo is never wrong my child, you must have throw your feeling aside, it's for the greater good."  
"What are you about to do, Gray?! What were Apollo words exactly high priestess?", she yelled at high priestess.  
"If you insist on it I will tell you:

_The one with ice in his hands,__  
__the one that forges it into weapons,__  
__the one with darkness in his heart,__  
__he will unleash it from his heart,__  
__he will forge it into a weapon,__  
__he will kill everybody with his hands,__  
__that is why you need to kill him__  
__before the sun goes down._

Wendy eyes were wide now and full of fear "What are you about to do, Gray...", she repeated, but it was just a whisper.

* * *

Gray was laying in his bed, certain book in his hand, he was examining her closely. He was so excited that probably he would not get any sleep that night, it did not matter to him anymore, nothing did.

"Tomorrow, tomorrow I will finally have my revenge.", he said to himself, his other hand on his silver necklace.


	4. Chapter 4: Sin

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!", Gray was cursed and then started to cough up blood.

_Every fucking thing went wrong_, he was lying on the ground in the Olympus Park, bleeding to death. His limbs won't move, because they were shattered, he could just lie there and wait for the Death to take him. Puddle of blood under him was getting bigger and bigger. He had not too much time left.

* * *

Gray woke up early that day, his morning have started with some vomiting, which was caused by the stress he was going through. He didn't go to the barracks that day, but to evade any suspicions he called the main office and said that he was not feeling too well, that was the truth after all. He was checking his equipment once every hour.

_There are only two hours until sunset I can go now_, Gray thought, and then he packed his mysterious book to his backpack and started to put on his coat when he heard knocking to his door.

"Gray? Are you in there, Gray?", it was Erza, Icesmith tensed.

_Ok, chill out, play it cool, there is no way she would know what are you about to do_, he thought.

"Yo, Ice brain open the door", familiar Dragon Slayer voice said. This was getting strange, _Why was Natsu here?_  
"Gray, please open the door" its the Oracle's voice, Gray's eyes became wide. He rushed to the window and saw Apollo Guards outside his apartment. They were special forces, the ones that were above the law, eliminating people who were a threat to the society and the city itself. _So they know_, he thought. Gray walked to the door and opened it.

"Sorry I couldn't find the keys to open the door, please come in", he greeted them with a fake smile. Three of his friends walked in. They sat on his big couch, their eyes were full of concern.

"Gray you know you can tell us everything, right?" Erza started, her face was looking like a face of caring, older sister.  
"Yeah, I know." he replied but he was thinking something else.  
"So is there anything you would like to tell us?", Scarlet was pushing it.  
"Nope, everything is fine Erza, I'm just feeling a little sick today, that's all and now excuse me, I need to go to the bathroom." When the bathroom doors closed behind him the conversation in living room started.

"Are you sure it's really Stripper?", Natsu asked, he was getting bored.  
"It must be Gray, my prophecies are never wrong, we just need to hold him here till the sunset and it will be alright", Wendy replied.  
"Wait, where's his backpack?", Erza asked while she was scanning the room with her eyes.  
"What backpack?", Natsu asked irritated.  
"You know the one which was lying near the couch", before they could turn back there was a loud yell.

"Ice make: Gungnir!", the voice came from the bathroom. Whole wall of the building was destroyed by the colossal spear coming out from the 4th floor.  
_Sorry, guys but it has to be done_, he apologized his friends in his thoughts.  
"Ice make: Ice Canon", Gray was sliding down the colossal ice spear, shooting ice missiles in the Apollo's Guards, he had the element of surprise and height advantage so they were easily defeated. He ran as fast he could in the direction of the park, he had like twenty, maybe thirty minutes of advantage over the chase. _It will be enough_, he thought.

"Gray you fucking bastard!" Natsu was yelling, still immobilized under the debris in Gray's apartment. He couldn't use his magic to get out, because whole building might collapse. Suddenly a pile of debris has moved, in the next instant it perished and Erza appeared in her Adamantine Armor. She re-equipped to her standard armor and helped Natsu get out of the debris. They started to search for Wendy, after a while they found her in the Grays bedroom, she was sobbing, holding something that was looking like some kind of letter. When they got closer to her she passed the letter to Erza, and she read it out loud.

"_I was planning this for whole eight years, you cannot stop me__  
__I'm going to summon him here in Olympus and defeat him__  
__Today is the day of my revenge, I might have end up dead__  
__So this is my farewell to you, my friends."_

"We have no time to loose, Natsu you think you can sniff out his trace?", Erza asked while she was equipping her Flight Armor.  
"Sure thing, let's go!", Natsu replied, he was all fired up.  
"Wendy will you be alright?", Erza asked concerned about Wendy's safety.  
"Y-yes I will head down the building and help treating the casualties. Please, you have to stop him."

But Gray was already there, in the center of the Olympus Park. He drew an unknown symbols on the ground, then put a bowl in the center, cut his hand and filled it with some of his own blood. Then he opened the book and started reciting.

"_I offer you this blood, let the door of the Tartaros open,__  
__let him come here through them in this world,__  
__let him show himself in his true form.__  
__With this words I summon you in my world.__  
__Come here Deliora, Come."_

As he finished that sentence the book in his hand started to burn, while his blood in the bowl was boiling. The earth's crust has opened and there was a big bottomless pit, suddenly a monster started climbing up, when he was on the surface with both of his legs, the earth's crust have closed. Demon was massive in size, he was as big as six floor building. Gray was scared, but relentless in his objective.

"Who summoned me?", demon asked.  
"It was me." , Gray straightened.  
"Ooooh was it you, puny human?" , hell-spawn has asked, he was not taking the Icesmith seriously.  
"Today I will have my revenge, Deliora!", Gray yelled his eyes were filled with fury.  
"Oh now I remember you. You are this little brat that survived our assault on Olympus. It will be pleasure to end your life, boy", demon said, he was preparing to attack.

And they started to fight. Gray began with his ice lances but there were too weak for Deliora. Demon just stood there unaffected. Next Icesmith tried with his ice arrows. Still nothing, he began to doubt in himself.

And that was the moment when Deliora attacked, he was too fast for something his size, he sent Gray flying like 500 meters just with a light kick. When Gray landed he could feel that he has broken some of his ribs, but it didn't matter as long as he could defeat the demon. Gray waited for Deliora to come closer and when the demon was less than twenty meters away from him, he used his Gungnir, Gray aimed for the monster's head, and he hit perfectly. He smirked to himself.  
_I did it, I defeated the demon that was haunting me for eight years_, he thought, but rights then the ice spear began to shatter.

"That was actually pretty good, but I guess you are out of moves, boy", Demon said a wicked smile was forming on his face.  
"No... I have one left", Gray stood up, his arms in front of him were making and X sign, his right arm was above the left arm. The right palm was facing down, left palm was facing up. Great energy started to emanate from Gray's body, which was glowing.  
"I can't let you wander freely in this city", first seal formed above the demon's head.  
"What is this shit?!", second seal formed on the right side of Deliora.  
"I will seal you in ice for eternity, even if I need to sacrifice my own life and soul", third seal formed on left side of the demon.  
"Silver won't be happy, about this.", demon said, and just like that on the sound of his father's name for a just brief moment Gray hesitated. And that was when things went really wrong. The seals where gone, his body stopped glowing but his arms and legs started twisting in some inhuman manner, the pain was unbelievable, his bones just got crashed into pieces, what is more the skin on his arms and legs starts to shred, blood was flowing out of the holes.

"Wha-What's happening?", Gray screamed in agony, terrified.  
"I may not be a specialist in magic but I know one thing, if you cast a spell of sacrifice and you hesitate even for a moment, you will receive Divine Punishment for your hesitation", demon smirked.

* * *

"Now should I just eat you or leave you here and start destroying the city, it's really a hard choice"

_Shit, shit, shit, am I really this pathetic?_, Gray thought.  
"Oi Gray you need some help with this big, ugly guy over there?" a familiar voice asked.  
"Natsu?", Gray couldn't believe his own ears.  
"I will buy you some time, go and help Gray." Erza said while she was equipping her Haven's Wheel Armor.

Natsu went to tend Gray's wounds, but there was not much he could do.  
"I'm not going to lie , there is only one way to stop the bleeding I will need to rip off your cursed limbs and then immediately burn the wounds..." Natsu said his eyes filled with anxiety.  
"So I guess that mean no more ice magic for me, huh?" , Gray replied sarcastically.  
"Yep..." Natsu was not sure about it.  
"Do it.", Gray commanded him.

And he did as Gray said. Natsu ripped of what was remaining of Gray's arms and legs, burning the wounds with his fire to stop the bleeding. Pain was so great that Gray passed out. _He is safe, for now_, Natsu thought.

Even almighty Titania was taking a beating from Deliora. _We needed to came up with a plan and we needed to do it fast_, he thought.  
But right then he saw a black haired woman, her eyes were full of sadness. She approached Gray and despite the fact, that he was unconscious she spoke to him:

"So you unleashed your darkness after all..."  
"Get out of my way kids I will finish this" Ur said to Natsu and Erza, while she was walking in the direction of Deliora.  
"Ooooh and you are?", demon asked with contempt.  
"Ur Milkovich and I will seal you once and for all, Rose Garden!", she yelled and in an instant the whole demon body was covered with ice roses.  
"It's not enough to sto-... ", Deliora didn't have time to finish his sentence, five seals were surrounding his body.  
"I guess that you are more skilled than that little runt.", demon said Ur whole body was glowing, her skin started to shatter.  
"Natsu... please tell Gray... tell Gray that I did this to seal the darkness in his heart.", she said turning her head back in Natsu direction, but Gray has regained temporarily his consciousness in that moment, so he saw Ur giving her live up for him, an image that will haunt him forever.

It started to rain.

* * *

Juvia was flying to her next place of destination, it seemed that there was a major event in the Olympus park, Loke said that even the gods themselves were absorbed by it. She landed lightly on her bare feet, wearing her usual black dress Juvia started walking to the center of the Olympus Park, people were running in the opposite direction that she was heading to. Death goddess could see a gigantic block of the purest ice and it seemed that there was something inside of it. She was curious so she quickened her pace. Her eyes became wide, inside the said block of ice was Deliora one of the Hades' demons, she hear that he was capable of destroying whole city in just one day.

There were two people nearby, and something that from the distance looked like her primary objective. When she was getting closer to the body that was lying on the ground someone has grabbed her by the shoulder, she was surprised that someone could actually see her.

"Please don't take him", red haired maiden said with pleading voice  
"Juvia has no other choice", she replied and kept walking towards the body.  
"Erza who are you talking to?", apparently the pink haired boy couldn't see her.  
"There must be something that we can do, he made a horrible mistake but he's my friend, he can't just be taken away from us." redhead continued.  
"Juvia understands, she had a friend once...", the goddess stopped for a while.  
"You understand? So will you spare him?", Erza asked once more, hope in her eyes.  
"No, that is exactly why Juvia will take him away from you.", she replied coldly.

"The hell are you doing Erza, are you nuts?", the pink haired man has become a nuisance.

"Shut up, Natsu!", she yelled at him, "Please I beg you as an Ares' high priestess there must be something that I can do!" scarlet haired woman dropped to her knees, tears were forming in her eyes.  
"Can you make the rain stop?", Juvia asked her eyes were empty, she still stood still.  
"Wha-what? I don't think I have this kind of power..." Erza replied caught off guard.  
"Then your friend will come with me, please do not interfere any more with Juvia's duties.", Death started to walk again.

Pink haired man just stood there, unable to comprehend what was happening right in front of his eyes. Erza Scarlet the mighty Titania was kneeling on the ground and crying, talking to someone who he, apparently, couldn't see.

Juvia got closer to the body lying on the ground and was really astonished. Even that this man was lying in the puddle of blood and his legs were somehow amputated below knees as well as his arms were below elbows, but he was looking handsome. _What a waste_, she thought.

"You will come with Juvia now..." , she said as she leaned over to grab his golden thread linking his body and soul. Strangely it was really thick as if this man was holding desperately to his life, but no one should survive this kind of thing. Suddenly he spoke to her.  
"Please don't'...", she removed the hair covering his eyes, he had beautiful dark eyes.  
"Why Juvia should let you live? Your time has come mister Fullbuster." she asked him.  
"How do you know my name?", Gray asked her surprised.  
"You have made quite a ruckus between the gods, the Icesmith that committed the greatest sin that a citizen of Olympus can make, summoning a demon inside the city. Not to mention the attempt to sacrifice your own eternal soul to cast a spell of sacrifice. Divine Punishments are not really pleasant, are they?" she asked, she was teasing him in some strange manner. Gray remembered his limb twisting inhumanly and the pain.  
"Heh, no they are not nice", he was smiling weakly.  
"Now let us go to the Hades, I guess there is no place in Elysium for you after what you did but I heard that Tartaros is quite a nice place", Juvia said.  
"I refuse", her eyes got wide, his gaze was so serious, so piercing.  
"Why do you want to live? In this state you will be forever confined to a wheel chair, but not for too long because when they court-martial you, you will be sentenced to death", she was curious about this man.  
"This whole thing is my fault I must take responsibility for it. If I die know I will die like a coward and I need time to say goodbyes to my friends", he responded, his will was unshaken.  
"Hmmmm... there is a way, but the Death will follow your every step, watch your every move, hear your every word. And the rain will follow as a never ending reminder of tears that your master shed." she said, she was really curious about his answer.  
"It doesn't matter as long as it will buy me some time to end all loose ends", he replied.  
"Then you have got yourself a deal , mister Fullbuster. I guess we should seal our deal somehow, since you don't have any hand anymore I guess that a handshake is not an option. Sooo...", she was blushing. Her cheeks were burning red while she kissed him in his cheek, even on the edge of death his skin was somehow warm.

He felt her cold lips, there were like the ice, ice that he couldn't make anymore.  
_So that is how a kiss from Death feels_, he thought and then he lost his consciousness.

"You received a kiss from Death, you better don't break your promise", she said to him even he couldn't hear her, Juvia's cheeks were still red, such a contrast with her pale skin.

She approached Erza, which was still kneeling on the ground, Natsu was trying to cheer her up somehow.  
"Juvia will spare him... for now", she said to her coldly.  
"Th-thank you", Erza was still crying but now there were tears of joy.  
"No thanks to Juvia, you should thank the Icesmith his will to live is… unusual. But Juvia will stay with him till his time will come." and just like that she flew away.  
Erza nodded, she knew that was meaning, Gray will die in the nearest future, but they were able to say a proper goodbye to him.

Natsu was still astonished, he didn't understand a thing about what happened. Suddenly Gray breath was steady, Erza was much calmer, but he still couldn't see the person responsible for all this.

* * *

Gajeel was before the biggest tent in the camp, he was said to met Elfman there. When he entered the tent there was a big table in the center of it, and a precise map of Olympus was lying on it.

"Shit, where did you get a thing like this?", Gajeel asked surprised,  
"Heh, it's a present from my sister", Elfman smirked

They were about to plan the siege on the Olympus, Gajeel still didn't know why Hades wanted this city so badly. Apparently there was something very precious hid inside of it, or he was just power hungry freak, it did not matter to him.

"So what's the plan?"Gajeel asked.  
"We will wait for the next three weeks, preparing our troops and moving slightly closer to Olympus, when the time will come my sister will open the gates of Olympus for us and our combined forces will unleash hell upon them." Elfman smashed his fist on the table.  
"What position does your sister has in there that she's capable of doing such feats?, Gajeel was curious.  
"She's the captain of the Olympus Defensive Garrison", Gajeel's eyes became wide.  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa how to come that they don't recognized her?", Iron Dragon Slayer was really surprised.  
"As I have said to you before, she can change her appearances easily", Elfman stated matter-of-factly.  
"She's a hell of a scary woman then. What will be my part in this whole plan then?" Gajeel asked.  
"You will do what you do best, Bloodseeker" , General smiled to him.  
"Gihi gihi, sure, that I can do. It will be a pleasure, but I hope that we can find there some challenging opponents." Gajeel said as his right arm transformed into double edged sword.  
"Watch what you wish for my friend it won't be very manly of you if you will fall to the Olympus champions, there are quite scary bunch of people." Elfman warned his comrade.  
"Tch, they can kiss my ass!", Dragon Slayer yelled.

And so they were back to planning the attack in details.

* * *

Natsu was watching as Apollo Guards were taking unconscious Gray to the hospital. Frozen Demon was still standing there, they couldn't do anything about him, he was just too massive in size to move. Dragneel started to play with his tail when Erza approached him.

"How he was able to accomplish such a thing?", Erza was curious about it.  
"You mean summoning this ugly guy?", Natsu said while he was pointing in the Deliora direction.  
"Yes, no human should be able to do it. Even you, who are the offspring of the dragon will be exhausted, not to mention fighting this thing after the ritual.", Titania was wandering about it for some time.  
"Ummm maybe Gray isn't a regular human..." a weak voice said. They turned around to saw Wendy, she was shaking just from standing near the demon.  
"What do you exactly mean Wendy?" Erza asked curiously.  
"You know that there are few races known in this world, there are dragon offspring like Natsu, child of gods like you Erza. There are also gods killers from Avatars Crisis like Lord Laxus." , they all winced on the sound of that name. " ... even Martyrs are no regular people."  
"What's your point Oracle?", Natsu asked, he was still playing with his tail.  
"I mean, maybe... maybe Gray is somehow... I don't know how to put this,,,, tainted with demon's blood", she said shyly.  
"Don't be silly Wendy, you are just making up stuff right now", Natsu pat Wendy on her head.  
"But think about it Natsu! He was able to summon a greater demon all by himself with only a little bowl of his own blood", they could see that Wendy was serious.  
"I say you that there is no way that Ice Brain can have demon blood running through his veins, he will be eradicated the second someone will find out", Natsu stated matter-of-factly.  
"Who were Gray's parents?" Erza asked.  
"His mother was from traders district and his father was previous captain of the Olympus Defensive Garrison, no big deal, his name was Silver or some other color, dunno, I don't care" Natsu was irritated.  
"You said, Silver?", Wendy eyes got wide from the shock.  
"Nine Demon Gates Silver of the Absolute Zero, the Exorcist, who according to legends was eating souls of demons?" she continued.  
"It's impossible someone like him was able to get a job in our military. Either way Hades would come here and kill him with his own hands if he would pull out something like this." Natsu said, he was beyond his limit.  
"You may be right, it was probably just the similarity of names", Oracle said, she her eyes were lost.  
"Sure I am, you are just over thinking it Wendy", Natsu said, there was a grin on his face.

* * *

A man was sitting on a throne, which was made out of bones, river of blood was flowing behind him. It was the center of beautiful, but scary looking palace, every single thing there was made from human bones. Lights were just imprisoned souls, said man took down his hood revealing his blue hair and a tattoo on his cheek.  
"Time to pay that whole Icesmith a little visit."


	5. Chapter 5: Visitors

Olympus hospital was a big, white, twelve-floor building, the huge, decorated columns were supporting the roof, above the massive doors was a crest of Hestia. She was the virgin goddess of the hearth, architecture, and the right ordering of domesticity, the family and the state. Inside the hospital was perfectly clear white walls, it was calm there, you could say that the patients would have they peace there and they could rest properly. But what you do not know is that there was a secret underground level, for the "Special Patients", such as war criminals, that were under the custody of the guards, to make sure none of them will attempt to escape from there. But one room in particular was guarded heavier that the others, outside the room were standing two guards, no I should say that they were more like empty armors, souls that were bind to guard this place forever, until the end of their duty will come, the Divine Guardians. They were chosen by the gods themselves and Gray was in that very room.

His eyes were empty, his gaze was concentrated on the ceiling for an hour, near him on the hospital chair was sitting a beautiful woman, her black wings were spread, so she could play with them. He had no limbs below knees and elbows. He couldn't eat by himself, nor drink or do his physiological needs. The nurses that were aiding him, were always so scared. As he could kill them with just his gaze, they seemed not to notice the Death goddess, but it was even better for him. Some of the nurses were just disgusted with what he has done, it did not matter for him anymore, nothing did. He smirked to himself after he has thought of himself making some nurse changing into the block of ice just with his eyes.

"What's so funny Gray-sama?", Juvia asked him.  
" I told you not to call me like that, there is nothing in me that you should respect.", he replied his gaze was still focused on the ceiling.  
"But Juvia will now follow Gray-sama's every step, Juvia thinks that's appropriate, at least for now.", she said as she was still playing with her black feather wings. Gray turned his head to her.  
"Is it hard?", he asked.  
"Emmm what?", Juvia said, caught off guard by his question.  
"Is it hard to fly with these wings of yours?" , his eyes were set on Juvia's wings.  
"No! Juvia thinks it's actually fun if not for the rain...", she started.  
"Ah, the rain... tell me about it", he turned his gaze back to the ceiling.  
"Gray-sama wants to hear about Juvia's rain?!" she asked excited.  
"Heh, yes",_it is a good time to be generous,_ he though.

But when Juvia started to open her mouth the door opened. It was no one else than the Main Strategist Lyon Vastia, the Cold and his assistant Chelia. He was wearing his new uniform, the long,blue coat with yellow elements on it, and she was wearing a pale blue mini skirt, a pink, sleeveless top with a dark blue center and a folded collar with yet another orange ribbon tied around it and a heart emblem on her left breast and an "X" on her right. She was the youngest Main Strategist assistant ever, mainly because of the fact that she learned God Slayer Magic all by herself.

"Chelia please leave us alone", he said, it seemed that he couldn't see Juvia.  
"Bu-But Lyon-sama will you be ok, maybe this monster doesn't have limbs anymore, but who knows what devil powers he posses.", she said her eyes were full of suspicions.  
_Ooooh so I'm a monster now_, the Icesmith thought. Juvia's heart cracked a little bit.  
" I will be ok, you don't need to worry about me. But please make sure that no one will enter through this door." Lyon said, his face rather polite.  
"Yes Lyon-sama!" Chelia said with energy as she was leaving the room, closing the door behind her.  
"So how's the new job, are you doing well?", Gray started.  
"Yes it's quite rewarding, you know...", Lyon started to take off his gloves.  
"... unless some bastard tries to jeopardize the whole city security by summoning a fucking demon in the center of the park, which was filled with civilians.", Lyon was now removing his coat. Juvia's cheeks went red, _Is-is this some kind of boys love?_, she thought.  
"Yeah about that.", Gray started but Lyon's fist hit his stomach.  
"Blurgh!", Gray spilled blood from his mouth.  
"Please go, it won't be a nice view", he said to Juvia, she had her hands covering her face, her eyes were full of sorrow.  
"The hell are you talking to bastard?! Why did you did it Gray?!Why?! Answer me dammit!" Lyon kept punching Gray in his stomach and face.  
"Please, just go.", he repeated one more time, his eyes were empty. Juvia started to cry, but she listened to him an phased through the wall to the other room. Lyon was about to explode from the anger, he was keeping punching Gray but the Icesmith has said nothing. He grabbed his neck and lifted him, nailing to the wall.  
"If you would just die back there, but no! You had to survive!", Lyon held Gray with his one hand and kept punching his stomach with the other fist, he was getting tired.  
"And Ur, she sacrificed herself for a piece of shit like you, she will not be able to leave this world nor stay here. She was like a mother to us, and look what you have done to our mother Gray!", Lyon yelled at him tears were forming in his eyes. Gray was all beaten up, blood coming from his mouth.  
"Are you done?", Gray asked his eyes were still empty, like he was not there. Lyon snapped at his words, he dropped Gray to the ground and started to kick him violently. Suddenly the door has opened and there was standing Lyon's assistant.

"I know that you said that no one was permitted to enter but I heard loud noises and I was worry about you Lyon-sama", and after that Chelia eyes were full of fear she have never saw Lyon in that state, he was berserk. "Lyon-sama please stop, you will kill him." she screamed while she was trying to stop her superior.  
"You may be right Chelia, death will be too good for him, I'm finished here. Let's go." and just like that he grabbed his gloves and coat and left the room. Chelia's eyes were still full of fear, but she followed her boss.

After a few seconds Juvia was back, she was terrified, Gray was lying on the floor coughing up blood. She went to him and picked him up. But there was no thank you or any kind of other response from him, she started to feel uncomfortable and put him onto his bed. After that she sat on the chair she was sitting earlier.

"So Juvia will tell you about her rain ,ok Gray-sama?", still no response, he was just silently staring at the ceiling.  
"The rain is following Juvia since she can remember, it's like a part of her, you know Gray-sama?", again there was only silence answering her.  
"Now it's raining all the time, but when Juvia was younger she could control it a little bit, that there were like one or two days that the rain was not dropping., but since Juvia obtained the gods power she couldn't do it anymore, but Juvia likes her wings, there are sooooo soft!", she continued.  
"Loke-san always says that someday Juvia will learn how to control it, but Juvia thinks that he is just saying Juvia what she wants to hear. Oh and Juvia has never seen the sky, even in the outer district of Hades the old buildings are covering every inch of sky, sometimes Juvia wonders how it looks, you must have a great childhood here Gray-sama. With all this sun and friends, who hold you dear." she finished, but still there was no response from him

Door has opened again. This time it was a little girl with dark blue hair. She looked at Juvia, fear was present in her eyes. _So she can see me,_ the goddess thought.

"May I enter?", Wendy asked,  
"Juvia gives you her permission", Juvia stated, she was a whole different person when she was not all alone with Gray.  
"Thank you", the Oracle bowed,  
"How are you feeling today Gray?", there was no response. She noticed the fresh bruises and blood stains on his shirt, but she said nothing about it.  
"I know that it must be hard for you, but I thought that you can enjoy some company or if you don't want I can just come by and check if you need something" , still nothing but the little girl continued.  
"If you were wondering about Natsu and Erza…, they are fine, you know them... each of them is coping with all this in their own way. Natsu is running from the tavern to tavern starting fights as he usually do when he is sad, and Erza just dwells into her duties as the high priestess, so she won't have time to think about this whole thing. Oh and I was able to convince Apollo Guards that you don't need surveillance inside the room, so you should have some privacy before the trial will start.", and yet again nothing, he was just staring at the ceiling.  
"Mmmm, if you don't want to say anything Gray then I will go. You will see, everything will be alright. Have a nice day goddess." she bowed and Juvia nodded in response. When the door closed behind Wendy, Juvia has spoken.  
"That wasn't nice Gray-sama, she come all the way here to talk to you and you didn't say a thing.", she said not expecting him to answer.  
"There was nothing I could say", he replied to her surprise and went to sleep.

Gray was sleeping for two hours, when yet another knocking has taken place. The door have opened and Juvia saw her, a beautiful, young, blond haired maiden with big, brown eyes she was wearing a loose,white toga, woman's eyes were focused on Juvia.

"Are you the Death goddess?" , she asked they was some kind of hatred towards Juvia.  
"It seems so, and you are?", winged woman asked in return.  
"I'm Lucy Heartfilia, the high priestess of Aphrodite." girl said with a firm voice.  
"Hmpf." was all Juvia said, she hated Aphrodite priestesses, they were careless, and light headed and this one seemed no different to her.  
"Why are you here? These man doesn't need your services", Juvia hissed with venom in her voice.  
"He is my friend, I came here to see how's he doing. Hello Gray.", she said, but there was no response from Gray.  
"See he doesn't want you here, now be gone, you stupid priestess" Juvia really hated those Aphrodite servants, and for no particular reasons, they were just too pretty and noisy.  
"No..., let her stay", Gray said his gaze still on the ceiling.  
"So you can talk now? Good because I want to tell you something", , she get closer and slapped Gray in the face. Juvia was curious what will happen next.  
"What the hell you were thinking, Gray? Weren't we supposed to be friends? Why you don't tell us about this all thing, we could come up with something together, or at least we would stop you in time and you wouldn't loose your limbs", tears were forming in priestess eyes.  
"This had to be done", he replied coldly.  
"Are you talking about your body being tear to shreds or Ur ending up giving her life for you?", she said ironically but before Lucy could realize what she said it was to late.  
"Get out!", he yelled at her.  
"Gray I'm sorry I didn't mean to..."  
"I said get out!", he yelled even louder this time.  
"Gray I said I was sorry there is no need for you to...", an arm pulled her back to the door with the great force.  
"Juvia think that you should leave. Now!" , she was giving Lucy the death stare.  
"But I'm his friend", Heartfilia was arguing with the goddess.  
"Juvia saw only one Gray-sama's friend here and it wasn't you, you stupid priestess", Juvia was starting to get impatient.  
"Wait did you just call hi-...", Juvia threw Lucy out of the room and slammed the door behind her.

"Juvia hates these priestesses, they are so annoying don't you think Gray-sama?", and again he was just staring in the ceiling, but before Juvia reached her chair he said one thing.  
"Thank you.", she blushed slightly at his words.

He thought it was all for this cursed day, Gray couldn't take any more of his friends, the guilt was just too strong for him to bear with. He jeopardized the whole city safety just for his own selfish needs, and there was also Ur. His master threw her life away for him, just to seal the darkness in his heart, he had still the image of her glowing body shattering to pieces and becoming the purest ice right before his eyes. But then out of nowhere certain man appeared, he was wearing a black coat, he had dark blue hair and a tattoo on the right side of his face, Gray didn't recognized him, but he saw that Juvia was shaking, _Strange_, he thought.  
Juvia knew this man, this was the Hades himself, she couldn't stop shaking, the mere presence of this man has made her terrified. _What is he of all gods doing here, did Juvia has done something wrong?_, she thought.

"Hello Juvia. You can go now, I will have a little chat with the Icesmith", he said not even looking at her.  
"Umm... but Juvia is really willing to stay Hades-sama, it's not like Juvia has something else to do.", she was trying to stay there, she wanted to be there with Gray. She wanted to protect him from that man.  
"I said go." he repeated, more firmly this time.  
"Y-yes Hades-sama" and just like that she phased through the wall and was gone.  
"So who we have here, mister Fullbuster if I assume correctly." , Hades said while he was making himself comfortable on a chair near Gray's bed.  
"What do you want?" , he asked harshly.  
"Ooooo that's not how you should address the King of the Underworld", Hades stated playfully.  
"As you can see there is not much I can really do in this state.", his eyes still glued to the ceiling.  
"Oh I know summoning a demon, were we, eh? I must say Deliora was one of the strong ones, I still don't know how you accomplished such a great feat." god said with a fake admiration in his voice.  
"That's none of your business. Say what you want and go back to your cursed city.", Gray replied harshly.  
"What if I say that I can get your limbs back." Hades said, his gaze was set on Gray's face.  
"Tch ,I don't need them I will be dead in no time, so if that's all you wanted to ask you can go now" the Icesmith said he was adamant in his decision.  
"How about your master, what if I say that I can bring her back from that ice?" Hades was relentless.  
"Nice try, but it's impossible to reverse a a spell of sacrifice even by the gods" for the brief second there Gray's eyes widened.  
"You are right but there is an item, actually a sacred relic left by Cronus himself, an item older and more powerful than anything in this world", Gray was getting interested.  
"But isn't he imprisoned in Tartaros, beyond the nine demon gates?" the Icesmith asked, his voice was full of doubts.  
"Yes, but this item remains above the Tartaros. Tell me what you know about Cronus' Scythe mister Fullbuster.  
"It was the instrument he used to castrate and depose of Uranus", Hades nodded.  
"Yes and with the power dwelling in that item you will be able to bring back your master to her previous state." Gray was getting suspicious, so he decided to ask.  
"And what you will have from it"  
"Ah, nothing special you will only swear your loyalty to me" , Hades stated matter-of-factly  
"Where's the trick?", Gray asked suspiciously.  
"Cautious, aren't we? It means that if you will disobey me I will destroy you in an instant, nothing more nothing less, and you will be never able to enter the Elysium."  
"I need time to think this through" a smirk has appeared on Hades' face.  
"If you will make your mind, just tell Juvia and she will tell you what to do next", and just like that the mighty king of the Underworld was gone.

After a few minutes Juvia was back, still pale from previous encounter with Hades.  
"What Hades-sama wanted?", she was still trembling.  
"He made an offer", Juvia got even paler.  
"And Gray-sama declined it of course?" she had concern in her eyes.  
"No... actually I'm thinking about it", Juvia rushed to his bed and leaned over him.  
"Gray-sama can't be serious! Even if Gray-sama will die in the nearest future it doesn't mean that he should accept Hades-sama offer, he's a wicked and cruel god, it was him who invented the Spells of Sacrifice."  
"But still if there is a way, that I can bring Ur back I'm willing to take all the risk", he said with all his determination that was left in his mutilated body.  
"Gray-sama will regret this, but Juvia has warned him", she said as she sat angrily on her chair.

* * *

Hades was sitting on his throne drinking a strange liquid from his cup,  
"What a stupid fool that Icesmith is, mortals were always easy to manipulate. The Scythe of the Fallen God, this thing is able of completing greater things than mere inversion of the spell of sacrifice, with it I will be able to take over the Pantheon for myself, disposing of that stupid Laxus Dreyar."  
"And what you will do next?", a woman appeared behind Hades' throne.  
"Next I will revive the oldest of the gods, the Uranus and destroy the mankind!"  
"It's a noble goal, I will lend you my hand, mister Fernandes..."

Hades hit the throne with his fist "I forbid you from calling me with that name, Jellalal Fernandes is no more, only Hades has remained, Ultear."  
"Oh, as you wish my lord", she said sarcastically  
"Don't you want find a way to bring your mother back?" he asked curiously.  
"I have no intentions to do so, she renounced of me when she has found out that I killed Hera." her emotions were blank.  
"You sure are a scary woman", Hades stated.  
"Hahaha indeed I am, now there's only one man that I want to kill more than anyone in this world, Gray Fullbuster, the cursed Icesmith." that woman was mad,  
"You sure have a lot of luck, that Silver is still guarding the ninth gate" he said with defiance.  
"Tsk, I'm not afraid of that old geezer."  
"Ooooh really? You are not afraid of the ice that was able to froze the flames of hell, I hear that he made himself quite comfortable there, even your magic would't be able move his ice forward." Hades was playing with his empty cup.  
"Exorcist Mage, Silver of the Absolute Zero, he is one and only of his kind, isn't he?Good that the son of his is so ignorant and short sighted, he can become troublesome in the future." he continued.  
"Don't worry Hades, the cursed boy will perish.", there was smile across her face.

* * *

Gray woke up in the middle of the night, something was lying on him, something annoyingly warm. He looked up and saw her, Juvia's head was lying on his stomach, her one arm was lying on his chest, her wings were spread that he couldn't see the ceiling anymore. _Death is truly beautiful_, he thought. Juvia woke up, and when she opened her eyes and saw where she was resting, she suddenly jumped, blushing violently,

" Juvia is sorry Gray-sama, Juvia was tired and she must fall asleep when she was overlooking you."  
"There is no need for you to do that, I will be dead in no time, don't you remember that?", he said, his voice was calm.  
"Y-yes but Juvia wants to make sure that Gray-sama will make it to the court-martial." again there was sorrow in her eyes.

The next day Gray was waked up by familiar voice.  
"It's time Gray, we should go now", Erza said, she was wearing her usual Heart Kreuz armor.

"Tsk. Ok, just help me get on this damn wheel chair", Gray said angrily. Juvia followed them silently. She was curious about the whole trial, how it will look like and what will be Gray's sentence. When they reached the ground floor of the building, Gray could see that the eyes of the personnel or even the patients were filled either with fear or hatred towards him, after all he was the one responsible for all this chaos. The closer, they were to the exit, the louder the voices from the outside were, he was curious about them, and when the main doors opened he saw them, his personal escort to the court, which was on the other side of the city. It was still raining.

_The hell is this escort for? it's not that I can run from them or whatever_, he thought. But then it hit him, they were here to protect him from the angry mob, there were even banners that were saying 'Kill the Demon's Offspring", "Death sentence for the Icesmith" or even "The End is near". Angry voices were chanting "Kill him! Kill him!" and "The gods demand blood of the cursed Icesmith." There was even some kind of thrash flying in his direction.

Erza eyes were sad, she just kept pushing Gray's wheel chair, trying to not think about anything, just focusing her mind on that one thing: pushing the fucking wheel chair. When they were at last at the front of the carriage door she picked Gray up and sat him inside it, then she closed the door behind her and the carriage stared to move in the direction of the court. Juvia flew behind them, her eyes were still set on the angry mob which was demanding some kind of wicked payback with Gray's life.

* * *

*Sooooo, some of you people want me to really continue this story and I'm starting to reupload it(finally) and later I'll continue it, but it may take some time, because I'm trying to find and fix so many errors that I can find, in my old chapters, but I'm just one man.  
And if someone is interested in Beta reading this kind of story, go on and message me.


	6. Chapter 6: Trial

They were in front of the courthouse, Gray was sitting in his wheelchair, he still had his blood stained shirt and shredded pants. Erza was pushing his wheelchair, she was wearing her Heart Kreuz armor, and there was sadness in her eyes. Juvia had just landed behind them and folded her black, feather wings; she was wearing a black, long dress.

The rain never stopped.

And yet again the mob of angry people was blocking their way, but this time it was different, Gray saw the wicked smiles that were spreading across their faces, as if his death was a great blessing for them all. But still, the mob didn't move. Suddenly a wall of water appeared, flushing the mob away, allowing Gray and his escort to go right to the court entrance without hindrance. The building of the court was made from white marble and a big white crest of Themis was carved above the door. Themis was the blind goddess, the embodiment of divine order, law and custom.

_The blind justice, heh?_, Gray thought in amusement.

The room that the trial was taking place was rather big, there was only one large desk, behind it were four persons, two of them were actually gods. Gray's wheelchair was placed in the center of the room, he was the cursed one after all. Icesmith was all alone there, no friends were allowed and not even Juvia, the goddess of Death herself. On the left was the Archont of Olympus, Makarov Dreyar, he was a little but very scary man, he was one of the ten wizard saints, even if he didn't seem so, he was in possession of a tremendous power.

"Gray Fullbuster, the Icesmith you are accused of treason by jeopardizing the city safety by performing the Black Ritual, not to mention an attempt to cast a spell of sacrifice, that was banned long time ago.", Makarov said, old man's eyes were full of sorrow.  
"Do you admit to your guilt?", he asked. Gray said nothing his gaze was set at the floor.  
_You know that silence means admitting, boy. Just say something, give me a chance to get you out of this_, Makarov thought.

But then Gray looked at the council and said  
"I admit. It was me who compromised city's safety with the Black Ritual, it was me who summoned Deliora in the ranks of our city, and it was me who performed the spell of sacrifice." Makarov smiled, tears forming in his eyes.

_You are no coward, I'm so proud of you boy,_old man thought.

But then, out of nowhere, a lightning struck Gray, not that it could kill him but still it was hurting him as hell. It was Laxus Dreyar, Makarov's grandson and current King of Olympus.

"We should just kill him where he stands! He's nothing more than mere trash. This city doesn't need the likes of you, Icesmith. You're just a taint on this glorious city. Think about it, our society will be much more magnificent if we just can get rid of a trash like him.", Laxus held the power of lightning, the power of Zeus who he has slain, enhanced by his Lightning Dragon Slayer skills made him nearly invincible. A true god that no one could match in fair combat, not even the Hades himself.

"Yes, death seems appropriate for a crime like this. But will a regular death be enough for a criminal like him? He deserves something crueler, something that will surpass the Divine Punishment he received earlier, but what can possibly match with its beauty. I must think! I must think!", crazy lady that has spoken was the high priestess of the Themis, Cythia the Mad, she loved punish the damned and she was so cruel that there were even legends about her.

"Your fate is sealed young Icemith, you know that you were supposed to die in that park, but yet you somehow convinced the Death. It truly irritates me, no one should be able to ran away from his fate! No one!" it was the Nemesis' voice, she was the goddess of fate.  
"But yet, we need to remember our other objective, my fellow council members.", Makarov said, Gray was now curious about that whole other objective.

"Say my boy, where did you actually learn how to summon demons?", he asked the Icesmith.  
"Tch, I've figured it out myself, it's not really that hard, you know?" Gray replied ironically, but in an instant he was hit by another bolt of lightning, coughing up some blood.  
"We can do it Gramp's easy way or maybe you want to try the hard way, huh?" Laxus said, he was sitting relaxed on his chair, his legs were on the council's desk.  
"Your fate is death Icesmith, so please cooperate or should I let Cythia take care of you first, hmmmm?", Nemesis said.  
"Yes!Yes!Yes! I'll tear his body apart little by little. Strip his skin to see his perfect muscle. Mmmm I'm so excited. I'll play with you, my new pain lover!", she was blushing. Gray's eyes become wide, that was something he definitely didn't want to experience.  
"I... I learned it from a book", the Icesmith replied, all of his courage just flew away.  
"What book, please specify. Was it a book from our libraries?", the Archont continued he was getting more and more curious.  
"No, it was a book that once belonged to my father, previous captain of the Olympus Defensive Garrison, Silver. It had two golden hammers on the front cover." Gray simply stated.  
"Did you just said Silver, you brat?! We need to kill this Icesmith, now! He's an abomination, he was plaguing our sacred city for too long!", Cythia was dead serious that time, and strangely there was also fear in her voice. Gray didn't know what was happening, but for some reason whole council got anxious, even the King was scanning Gray's appearances with his eyes.

"You sure look a lot like him.", he said.  
"Do you know where you father is now?", Nemesis asked, Gray could feel her eyes piercing through him.  
"My father is dead. He was killed alongside my mother by Deliora when I was ten years old." Icesmith said while he was replaying the whole accident in his mind.  
"Tch, you know nothing kid, but since you won't live for too long I will tell you a tale, a tale that even the gods have thought was a myth, but you prove it wrong with just your very being.", Laxus straighten up on his chair Gray was lost he didn't know what was going on anymore.

"At the beginning of the time when the humanity was nothing more than a mere trash, a demon from Tartaros went loose. It wasn't some kind of a cheesy demon, he was invincible, the guardian of the ninth gate of Tartaros, the last gate before Cronus' prison. Apparently he was bored with his job, so he went to the surface to destroy humans, just for fun. He wasn't massive as Deliora, he was the size of a regular human, but his power was beyond comparison, he could just easily defeat anyone even the gods would have trouble with him. When he was walking through the land, a certain man approached him, a man with a silver cross like necklace just like yours.", Laxus pointed at Gray.

"And he said to the demon that it's time to stop this unnecessary bloodshed, and they fought for ten days. But as you can predict human has lost and his soul was consumed by the demon. Tired demon returned to guarding his gate, but after a thousand years the soul of a man started fighting back. Demon was fighting with himself, tearing half of the Hades apart in his odd, inner conflict. Surprisingly the human soul has won the battle of wills, because he had something that demon did not - a human heart, and the abomination known as Silver was born. He tried to return to his homeland, to his beloved ones, sadly they were all dead for quite some time, but he has found a woman that has stolen his heart. And just like that he vanished from the cards of the history, leaving no trace of existence."

Gray's eyes become wide, _Is this some kind of joke, it can't be it doesn't make any sense_, he thought.

"He was hiding well, but unfortunately Hades has found him and sent a certain demon to bring him back, you should know Deliora, right?" Laxus had an evil grin on his face.

"The Nine Demon Gates of Tartaros, Silver of the Absolute Zero, the Exorcist mage, these are his names between the people, gods and demons. Everybody have known that he could have some kind of offspring, cursed with his demon powers, but to find out that you are here in front of us, son of Silver, Gray Fullbuster the Cursed Icemith. You really have made us a great favor revealing your roots. Ha,ha,ha." the voice of evil laughter was echoing between the walls of the court room.

"Is... is my father alive?" Gray asked, he was still in shock.

"Sure he is, he just abandoned you and your mother and ran to the Hades to do his original job, you were just unlucky to be born as a demon's son" Gray felt all kind of emotions at once. There was anger and hatred as well as despair. His whole world just got crushed. He was a son of a demon, a very powerful one. He spent last eight years on training, preparing to fight the summoned demon, but in the end he was one himself. It was like some kind of wicked nightmare, but sadly there was no way for him to wake up nor any kind of help.

"Look at him! Look at him! This sorrow, this pain I want him, I want him now! Let me have him, I will cut him to the pieces, make him scream, taste his blood!" Cythia said, she was back to her mad self, what is even more disturbing she was blushing, violently.  
"Someone needs to calm this woman down, or I will make her mad talk stop by force. And you, Laxus! There was no reason for you to say him that, don't you think a death will be enough for him, you just had to play with his mind, didn't you?!" Makarov yelled at his grandson.  
"Even a trash like him deserves to know the truth about his roots, it was an act of mercy." Laxus said.  
"It must be done, or else his threads of fate may change and he will live. Gray Fullbuster, the Icesmith, no I should say the Cursed Icesmith you will be executed tomorrow at night, an abomination like you should never see even a ray of the sun before its death." Nemesis said.  
"Yes!Yes!Yes! You will make a perfect trophy in my room, so precious, so handsome!" Cynthia said.  
"I did what I could, but as an Archont of Olympus I call you guilty. Your sentence will be death by hanging." Gray could already feel an invisible rope around his neck.  
"Do you have any last wishes?" Nemesis asked.

"Yeah, I have one. Please send a blacksmith hammer to my cell." Gray asked, some kind of determination was visible in his eyes.  
"HAHAHAHA, do you really think _They_ will help you?!" Nemesis stood up and walked towards Gray.  
"There's no way mortal, you are tainted with the demon's blood. But you can try if you want, it doesn't matter as long as I will see Death taking your soul to where you belong, to Tartaros!", everybody except Gray and Nemesis were confused.

Gray was sitting on his wheelchair in the center of his cell. Juvia was there with him, she looked concerned, the goddess had no idea what has happened at the trial.

"Sooo can Juvia ask Gray-sama for what reason his last wish was a blacksmith hammer?", she asked curiously while she was trying to put him on his bed.  
"Do you know how I earned the title Icesmith?" he responded with a question.  
"Ummm… no", she replied rather confused.  
"Every ice mage needs to find his own form, his true inspiration. That was what Ur was always telling us. My whole life I thought weapons were not only powerful but also beautiful in their form. I could remember them all and I was able to create any kind of weapon with my ice, they said that they were perfect and my fighting technique was unmatched as if gods have chosen me for their champion, and so they have started to call me the Icesmith." Gray explained.  
"Juvia doesn't understand", she was lost.  
"You will see in no time, just place this hammer near me", and she did as he said.

"Hephaestus and Ares please lend me your strength in this hour of need as I'm your champion. I recall you, the greatest of gods, come and aid me this one, last time.", he recited those words.

And she felt it, a massive vibration and fluctuation of power. Juvia started to tremble, that reminded her of the aura that Hades was unfolding. And they appeared right in front of helpless Gray, two of the greatest gods Hephaestus and Ares. Hephaestus has the appearance of the simple blacksmith, Ares on the other hand had a full golden armor, you couldn't see the face hiding under his helmet.

"Why were you calling us, Icesmith?", Hephaestus asked he was looking around curiously.  
"I need a favor to ask", Gray said with confidence, he wasn't intimidated by the gods presence.  
"Ah,ha,ha, a favor you say? But why the gods should do you a favor?", Ares asked amused.  
"I was once your greatest champion Ares, I fight with no remorse, I was relentless and never hid behind the shield unless necessary. I have spilled the blood in your name and for your glory.", Icesmith said with no shaking in his voice.  
"I think that you are right..." Ares replied, he started to play with his beard.  
"And what about me? Why did you summon me?" Hephaestus asked.  
"I need your help as well, the great Hephaestus. My weapons were always the finest and sharpest, their strikes were precise and deadly, yet my opponents could see a hidden beauty in them. I have put my strength and soul in each of my ice weapons you can say that I was one with them." Gray said.  
"You are right, young champion", they didn't even notice Juvia, she was like air to them and yet they were addressing Icesmith with respect.

_Who you really are, Gray-sama…_, she thought to herself.

"But since you're a demon blood, it will be hard for you to accept our blessing, it can be somewhat tainted with the power inside of you." Ares said, he was still playing with his beard.  
"I don't care. I just need one thing and the pain doesn't matter to me anymore." the eyes of Icesmith were determined.  
"So what it will be?", Hephaestus asked.  
"I want my limbs back so I can go to the execution with my own legs, and face my accusers with my own arms. I want to hold my head high one more time, to die with dignity is what I want." Gray said, there were tears forming in Juvia's eyes.

"That is truly a noble goal but it will be even harder to do so, since you taken the Divine Punishment, but there is a way to do it" Ares said.  
"But you need to close your eyes first" Gray was looking suspiciously at the two gods but he did as they said.

Suddenly he felt a great pain in his chest, it was too much for him to handle and he passed out, not even able to open his eyes one last time.

"Gray-sama! Why are you doing to Gray-sama?! Stop this, please he was already sentenced to death." Juvia was screaming frantically, unable to comprehend what has just happened.  
She was staring at Ares' hand piercing right through Gray's chest her eyes were full of tears. _Hasn't this man suffered enough?_, she thought.  
"Calm down girl, he is not dead, we needed to pull out his Core" Ares stated matter-of-factly.  
"C-core?" Juvia was sobbing.  
"Each human, or even god, possesses his own Core, it's something that contain all our powers, now Hephaestus will forge his Core into something useful, just sit there and watch woman."  
Her eyes became wide when Ares pulled out a shiny, little thing from Gray's chest and there was no bleeding from it. No, it looked more like and shard, shard of the purest ice. The Blacksmith has taken it and split it into four different parts. He picked up a hammer and started to forge the shard on an anvil that appeared from nowhere.

"Your wish will be granted, champion. But your life from now on will be even worse, it was your call after all" Ares said as he sat on the bed in the cell.  
"C-Can Juvia help somehow?", Juvia asked sheepishly, still sobbing.  
"You like this man, don't you?", his question caught Juvia off guard.  
"N-no, wha-what makes you think like that?, she was blushing violently.  
"Hmpf, I may be a god of war but I'm no fool, child. You spared his life, and you've never did this before. But it's none of my concern, just remember the path that this man has chosen..." he stopped for a moment " there's only pain and sorrow on it."  
"Juvia knows... but she promised Gray-sama that she will grant him a proper death, he deserves that..." her eyes were full of sorrow.  
"Indeed, the Icesmith has done us great favors in the past, so we will repay him now. But young goddess you must remember that you can't protect him from himself. Man's pride is his greatest enemy. You must remember that." Ares said to her, but she hasn't understood it.

* * *

Elfman could see the Olympus magnificent walls from their camp. They were so big, that they were ending where the clouds began. Some said that there were Cyclops living on the walls just waiting to strike the unfaithful with massive stones. But he wasn't scared, there was nothing on this world that could probably surprise him. That man has seen hell, he was practically a demon from Tartaros himself. He didn't really want to attack the city, but it had to be done in order for him to revive his little sister. Their camp was located behind a hill, five minutes from the wall. They couldn't make a fire in order to not to draw any attention to their current position. If Olympus Guards could find them they will be doomed and his whole plan would go to waste.

_Tomorrow, tomorrow at night it will be the end of the Olympus_, he thought.

Gajeel was lying in his tent, he couldn't sleep, he was too excited about the war. Finally he would have a chance to test his strength against worthy opponents, he even heard that there were other Dragon Slayers. He looked on his arm and the sentence carved on it.

_Maybe tomorrow I will find the answer I'm looking for_, he thought and got up from his bed.

Bloodseeker went outside his tent, the view there was quite terrifying. The 600 restless, cursed Martyrs were waiting in some kind of stasis, they couldn't feel any pain or be injured by any common weapons. They were also resistant to magic. Gajeel was also invincible, he wasn't just a Hades tool as the rest. As a Dragon Slayer he had also some other abilities. For example he had impenetrable skin, as the result of the bath in Styx , but he could now make himself an iron skin, they feared him in that state, because he was mainly berserk when he was using it, and couldn't distinguish friends from foes. There was also a special ability, a blessing form Hades, but he didn't want to use it. it was more of a curse than a blessing. He clenched his fist and looked at the Olympus' wall one last time before he walked back to his tent.


	7. Chapter 7: Breach

Guards at the main gate were chatting, there was nothing going on in Olympus, the safest city in the known world.

"Another lazy day, huh?", one of them asked  
"Yep. There is nothing to do, no one is stupid enough to attack our city." other one replied.  
"You are damn right!", and then a certain woman entered the big room where forty guards were relaxing, talking and playing cards. She had long black hair and scars all across her face, on her sight they all stood up, straightened and saluted her.  
"What is it captain?", the closest one to her asked.  
"Open the gate." they looked at her as if she was mad.  
"But why captain?" he asked once again.  
"I said open the gate" she stated more firmly this time  
"I refuse if there is no argumenta-..." and just like that he was ripped to shreds.

Woman has started to slaughter every single man in that room, when she was done she returned to her original appearances. She had long white hair and beautiful face, she was perfect if not for the blood stains all across her body, Mirajane Strauss.

"You should have listened to me.", she said when she destroyed the safety mechanism of the main gate, and just like that the mighty, impenetrable Walls of Olympus were open to everyone and everything who wished to come in.

* * *

It was a rainy night.

Ground was muddy from all the water. The council members were gathered under the roof, they needed to witness and confirm the execution of Gray Fullbuster with their own eyes. On their side was also Lyon with his assistant Chelia Blendy. On the other side of the courtyard were standing Gray's friends from left Erza, Wendy, Natsu and Lucy. They were all sad, waiting for the guards to bring their friend from his cell.

There was a loud crack and the gate opened, they could see two Divine Guardians walking in front but there was still no sign of Gray. When the guards have moved aside they all saw him and their eyes became wide.

The Icesmith was standing on his own, handcuffed, but he hasn't got regular limbs. They were made from something that looked like ice. It was merging with his body. His new hands and legs didn't even have human shape anymore.  
His hands were reminding those of human, but he had claw-like fingers and his elbows have had an ice spikes coming out from them.  
His legs weren't ordinary either. His feet were resembling more those of a beast than human, with their claws. There were also long, ice spikes coming out from his knees.  
He looked like a true demon's offspring. The council stood there unaffected, but Lyon was looking at him with disgust and Chelia was hiding behind her superior, she was scared of Gray's new appearances.

The only one laughing quietly was Natsu, he knew that Gray would somehow accomplish a feat like that, but Erza and Lucy just had sad eyes and Wendy was just quietly sobbing.

Behind Gray was walking Death herself. He was slowly walking to the scaffold, on which they were going to hang him.  
_Not a glorious death_, he thought. Surprisingly near the scaffold wasn't Cythia, the priestess of Themis, but the goddess Nemesis.

"I need to do it myself. You must be dead by any means necessary, Cursed Icesmith", she said to him emotionless, and so she put the rope around his neck.  
"Any last words?" she asked ironically. Gray turned his face to Juvia, which was standing behind him, then he smiled and said just one little thing  
"Thank you." and Juvia lost it. She got closer to him, grabbed him by his shirt and kissed him, his eyes wide open, he could feel her ice cold lips on his own, when she broken the kiss she was still blushing violently but she said  
"Th-that's a kiss from Death, it should ease your pain in your last moments, Gray-sama...", tears and rain were mixing on her cheeks.  
"You are a disgrace to the gods" Nemesis said, pulling Juvia away from him.  
"And now I present you the Cursed Icesmith, he will be punished for his crimes towards the city", Nemesis continued, a wicked smile on her face.

But then when she was about to pull the lever a large explosion has taken place. It was so massive that the earth has shaken. A military courier ran to the courtyard, his face and outfit were covered in blood.  
"There was a traitor in our ranks, the city is under attack, Martyrs are in the city! Martyrs are in the city!" he was yelling.

All the people gathered on the courtyard rushed to the exit, while Divine Guardians were taking Gray off the scaffold. Then their saw it, the city outer district was in flames.

"Put Gray back in his cell. Natsu, Laxus, Erza, Lyon you are going with me!", Makarov commanded.  
"But he must be killed, now!" Nemesis yelled.  
"The city is more important than him, don't you think?" Archont replied, Nemesis said nothing and she just vanished.  
"Lucy. Take care of Wendy and Chelia, just go with Divine Guardians and hide somewhere." Archont commanded.  
"Gramps I can help, just release me, I can be useful!" Gray yelled while he was dragged by the Divines.  
"No. Gray, you are an enemy now, I'm… I'm sorry." and they went to the outer district.

* * *

Gray was sitting locked up in his cell, he was getting out of his mind.

"Fuck! I should go there and help them defeat the enemy." he punched the wall.  
"Please calm down Gray-sama, there is nothing you can do in your current state." Juvia was trying to calm him down.  
"Shut up! There must be something that I can do!" he yelled at her.  
"Gray-sama you are tired and stressed please try to calm down a bit." she was getting worried.  
"No, no, no, no, you don't understand I must do something." he started to emanate cold. Juvia was getting concerned about Gray , he wasn't looking or even acting as himself.  
"Ummm... Juvia is getting really scared, soooo can Gray-sama stop this crazy thing?" she attempted to grab his hand but Gray was gone. His eyes were full with some kind of demonic madness.  
"Yes, yes the ice, ice was always an answer" he mumbled.  
"Gray-sama?" Juvia asked, she was really scared.

"Ice make: Gungnir" and just like that he created a colossal ice spear that destroyed the cell's bars and the wall in front of them, but it was different from his earlier ice magic. He didn't need to take a pose anymore. Ice was just forming in his new cursed ice-demon hands. He went loose, like a mad man looking for any opponent from Martyrs Army that he could kill for the sake of the city.  
Juvia panicked, she needed to find someone that could bring him back to his old self, but unfortunately she has known only one person and she hated that idea. But there was no other choice. She has phased through few rooms and found her.

Lucy was just standing there trying to calm down Chelia and Wendy, little Oracle was sobbing, she hated the violence and wars. Suddenly someone grabbed her.

"Juvia needs your help priestess." , Juvia said, there was concern in her eyes.  
"Oooh you don't tell.", Lucy replied.  
"It's about Gray-sama, he... he went berserk" , tears started to form in her eyes.  
"So what are we doing here?! Let's move! Girls you just stay in here and you will be safe." she said to the two young maidens, and then they went to search Gray.

* * *

_Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck_ , Gajeel was cursing while he was lying on the ground, coughing up some of his blood, everything went smooth to that moment, the main gate was opened by Elfman's sister and they just slaughtered the citizens as well as the Olympus Defensive Garrison. But this man was a monster. He would never believe that someone like him could exist. In front of Gajeel stood a young well build man with a lightning like scar on his right eye.

"You give up, punk?" he asked Gajeel.  
"Tch, there is no way I could give up to someone from Olympus." Iron Dragon Slayer replied bluntly.  
"That's a shame, you will feel the wrath of the Thunder God." , Laxus said emotionless. Gajeel stoop up and tried to attack his opponent one more time with his Iron Dragon's Sword but he was just too fast.  
"You can outrun the lightning. Lightning Dragon's Heavenward Halberd ", King hit him once again.

"Shit, I never thought that I will be forced to use it so early on, but I guess I have no choice.", Gajeel said, Laxus got suspicious and took defensive stance.  
Gajeel pulled a black dagger from a pocket in his pants and stuck it right in the center of his chest.

"The hell are you doing? Are you nuts? You won't defeat me by killing yourself, you damn Martyr." Laxus was confused.  
"Gihi, just watch.", and the dagger was pulled inside Gajeel's body but there was no wound nor bleeding.  
"What did you do?" King asked curiously.  
"I just used a little present that Hades gave me, now we will see if you can outrun the shadows" and he vanished into the shadows, Laxus was scanning the whole place but he couldn't spot him.

"You are just hiding like a coward!" he yelled.  
"Iron Shadow Dragon's Club" , Gajeel hit Laxus in the back, but when the God of Thunder turned around there was no one.  
"Iron Shadow Dragon's Fist" again King of Olympus was hit.  
"You have enough?" , Gajeel asked, certainty was in his voice.  
"Tsk. Didn't I tell you? You can't beat the lightning." Laxus said as he was straightening up.  
"Lightning Dragon's Slayer Secret Technique: Skywrath." and the lightning were just striking everything. There was nowhere that you could hide not even in the shadows, and so Gajeel got hit but he managed to use his Iron Shadow Dragon's Roar on Laxus and knocked him unconscious.

Bloodseeker was on the run. He needed to find some place safe, where he could regenerate or lay low for a while.

_This fucking city is full of fucking monsters. __A bookstore? Hmmm... nobody will be even searching in a place like this, this may be my chance, I will hide there and wait for the reinforcements to come_, he thought as he was opening the bookstore door.

* * *

Natsu was fighting with Martyrs Army. They were indeed relentless as the legends were saying, but he was able to fight with them and beat them. At that time he had something like fifteen enemies on his counter, but he was getting tired. Even if he was a dragon's offspring there was a limit to his powers. The Martyrs just kept coming and coming like there was no end of them, suddenly the situation got even worse, he could spot some minor demons between them.

_Damn this whole thing is getting nasty,_he thought. Something has grabbed him by his tail, and started to pull, when he looked back he saw a demon trying to lift him up and smash on the ground, but Natsu was too agile for a thing like this to happen. He simply outmaneuvered the demon and crushed its head with Fire Dragon's Iron Fist. But there was more and more of Hades' troops, suddenly he heard a familiar sound, sound of the moving ice. When he looked around he saw some of the Lyon's creations. Tigers and dragons were blowing up on the touch, instantly freezing Martyrs in blocks of ice. After all he was a Main Strategist for reasons and this looked like one of them.

Natsu was moving forward, when he saw him. General of Hades Army, Elfman Strauss, but it was already too late for him to react. Giant, lizard like hand grabbed him by his neck and started to suffocate him. Natsu was tired from previous encounters, so he managed to kick Elfman in his jaw before he nearly fainted. It was no use, general was just too strong for exhausted Natsu. Surprisingly his grip has loosened a bit and Elfman just dropped his opponent on the ground.

"I've no intentions of killing you, young Dragneel, so please just lie here and do not resist" was all he said. There was no strength left in Natsu's body and he just lied there, but he was watching carefully the direction in which Elfman was heading to.

* * *

Juvia, with Lucy on her arms, was flying above the city. They were searching for Gray, in his state he was a danger for the entire city and for himself as well. They found a big, ice battlefield, a certain man was fighting there. They hid behind an old building and watched it from the distance.

Gray was on a rampage, he was destroying everything, the bodies of enemies as well as allies were just flying in the air.

"Ice make: Freeze Lancer ", two more Martyrs dropped dead.  
"Ice make: Arrows", five more good men just died.  
"Ice make: Gungnir", whole building just collapsed, another ten men were dead,.  
"Hahahahahahaha! More! Give me more of them!", Gray was yelling, he was berserk.

Juvia and Lucy were terrified, they didn't know what to do, it was just too dangerous to come close to him but they needed to try. When they were in half way to him Juvia yelled  
"Gray-sama please stop this madness, it's not you!" he turned back to them his eyes were empty, like he wasn't in his body anymore.  
"Gray please contain yourself, you are hurting our men, for the god's sake, stop this." Lucy said but still there was no reaction from him, he just stood in the middle of something that looked like some ice arena, his artificial limbs were making some kind of mist around him.  
"L-Lucy? Wha-what have I done? Last thing I remember is that I was in prison and then I have some kind of black hole in my mind." he sounded scared a little, but they were getting closer to him. If they just could get a little closer.

Suddenly on the back of six floor building a gigantic ice dragon appeared and there was no one else than Lyon riding it. He just swooped down on Gray, trapping him in ice.

"What's wrong with you Lyon? You could have kill us!", Lucy yelled at him.  
"He's mine! There is no way he's getting away from what he had done!"  
"Lyon! He was out of his mind! This must have been some kind of side effect of those new artificial limbs that he has, or the demon blood running through his veins."  
"No! I'm going to finish him once and for all." but then the ice that Lyon made broke and Gray was free. He was back to his demon self.

"I've always wanted to do that, let us fight to the death!" and he rushed at the Lyon, with his claw like hand, his eyes were full of rage.

_What have you become, Gray-sama?,_ tears were forming in Juvia's eyes, but she was dragged by Lucy to somewhere safe, where they couldn't get hit by the spells of two ice mages.

"So you have finally lost your mind, Gray? No wonder, you were always kind of mad." Lyon was mocking his opponent, he has sent some of his ice beasts to stop Gray's charge but they were useless, Gray formed Cold Excalibur, a gigantic two-handed ice sword and was just slicing through Lyon's army.

"You're going to die here, you pathetic excuse of an ice mage, you heard me Lyon?!" Gray changed to his Ice Bringers. They were two, one-handed, ice swords and when he was about to score a direct hit on his opponent Lyon dodged it. White haired mage countered him with just one of his Ice Wolf fists, while he was making a gigantic ice tiger with another. The tiger jumped on Gray and attacked him savagely but he kept dodging his attacks. Unfortunately Gray slipped and the tiger's jaws got him. Monster has swallowed him.

"NO! Gray-sama!" Juvia yelled, tears were running down her cheeks.  
"Shhhh be quiet, it's not over yet." Lucy said, trying to calm her down.

The tiger let out a horrible roar as if something was tearing him apart from the inside. Suddenly it stopped moving and it stood lifeless. Seconds later his right side just exploded. Inside the tiger was standing Gray with his Ice Cannon.  
"No way! You should be dead, why won't you just die, Fullbuster?!" Lyon yelled. Gray eyes were full of excitement, not the good one, more like he was possessed by some blood lusting demon. Before Lyon could cast another spell Gray was in front of him.

"How the he-..." Icesmith has punched the Main Strategist in his stomach, Lyon fell on the ground.  
"You are going to die, little mister strategist. I always hated you, you know?" and he put the end of his Ice Cannon in front of Lyon's head, smiling like a mad man. Lyon closed his eyes.  
"Say hello to Ur in hell!", Gray yelled, but there was no big boom or anything, when Lyon opened his eyes he saw a stone coffin in front of him, there was only one man able to do such a thing.

Jura, the Hermit, one of the ten wizard saints from Arcadia was standing on the roof of the last building that has remained in the area.

"Looks like things got pretty nasty here." he said, while Lyon was getting up.  
"Yeah, thanks for help. Now we can finish him off."  
"No, we can't. He must remain sealed in this stone or else he could go on a rampage again.", Jura said.  
"Will Gray-sama will be alright?" Juvia and Lucy came out from hiding.  
"Hello Death goddess, and yes he will be ok for now... but we will discuss his fate in the incoming future" Jura returned his gaze to Lyon.  
"Now, Main Strategist. Come with me, we must defend what is left of your city. You ladies stay here and make sure that he would not break free from this stone prison." and they left, leaving two maidens alone in the frozen war zone.  
"Gray-sama are you there?" but there was only silence answering her.  
"He won't answer you" Lucy said with sad eyes.  
"Why? How you can know?" Juvia asked her with anger.  
"Look around you if he remembers even a small amount of what he has done, he won't speak."  
"B-but it wasn't Gray-sama fault, he just tried to protect the city. It's not his fault that he's demon blood." Juvia was trying to justify his actions.  
"But he wanted those artificial limbs, and that's probably why he was going crazy bananas. He couldn't control his power, but yet he used it. ", Lucy just sat down near the stone coffin.

Gray was sitting inside the coffin his head was down, tears running down his cheeks.

_I'm a monster, I'm a fucking monster I nearly killed Lyon, a person that is my only family, my brother, not to mention all of our soldiers I don't deserve to be alive nor to be dead..._ , he thought in the darkness.

* * *

Erza was easily pushing back the combined forces of the demons and Martyrs in her Heaven's Wheel Armor, she was the high priestess of Ares and Athena after all. Suddenly the attacks have stopped and all her opponents knelt, making room for a certain man to walk on the battlefield. He was wearing a black hood, so she couldn't really see any of his appearances. Titania took her defensive stance when he started to walk towards her. When he was no more than five meters away from her he took off the hood revealing his blue hair and a tattoo on the right side of his face. Erza has instantly dropped her swords.

"Je-Jellal is that you?" she was shaking , her eyes were wide from the shock.  
"Yes it's me, long time no see, Scarlet." he said, a warm smile was present on his face.  
"I thought you were dead, where have you been all this time?" she let her guard down and rushed to hug him.

It was her biggest mistake, at the very moment when she opened her arms Jellal stabbed her with a dagger. Blood started coming out from her the stomach.  
"Jellal is dead young priestess, only Hades remained.", he said looking in the distance. Erza dropped to her knees, trying to stop the bleeding.  
"W-Why did you this to me Jellal, don't you remember me?" she asked him, unable to comprehend what just happened.  
"I said that your pathetic friend is dead, woman. There is nothing left of him in this body." he kicked Erza in the face. She was lying like that for the rest of the time.  
"Pick her up and bring back to my castle. We can use this priestess later." a devilish grin appeared on his face. Erza's body was dragged back to the main city gate, by some minor demons. Shortly after that she lost her consciousness.

Hades started walking in the direction of the Heavenly Palace. It place was his primary target, after all.


	8. Chapter 8: Light

Hades was standing in front of the Heavenly Palace. It was a vast building, but not to high. It had only three floors made from white marble, beautiful red columns were supporting each floor. On the hall's walls were majestic paintings presenting scenes from Olympus' society history, some of them were big, other small. Palace had a big courtyard that could hold around 350 people. It was truly a beautiful place.  
Sadly it was going to be razed to the ground. Hades sat on one of the stone benches around the main entrance to the palace and waited.

First one to show up was Elfman, he was the General of the Martyrs Army. He was walking up the main stairs leading to the palace. He had few scratches, but nothing serious. After all, he was Hades' champion. It was unlikely for him to be defeated easily.

"Were there any problems, General?" Hades asked, not even looking at his subordinate.  
"No, not at all, the only thing worth noticing is that the young Dragneel is here."  
"Oh is it really?" Hades looked into the sky.  
"Yes, I made sure that he will not interfere with our plan, my Lord" Elfman said, bowing down his head.  
"Good, very good... We don't want for your young sister to wait, do we?" He said with venom in his voice. Elfman has clenched his fists.

"No, we do not."

Next one to shown up was Mirajane, Elfman's older sister. She was in her Takeover form, Satan Soul. She looked like a demon in that state: big, leather wings, long, black, scaly tail. Her forearms and hands received noticeable changes, becoming covered in scales and each sprouting a fin-like protrusion on its outer side, but as soon as she landed she was back to her normal self. She was wearing long, red dress with ribbons.

"I'm here, my Lord." She bowed.  
"What took you so long?" Hades asked, he was looking carefully at her  
"I needed to defeat some of the local resistance." She replied politely.  
"How many?" Hades asked once again.  
"About a hundred." Woman said emotionlessly.  
"Hah! That's my sister!" Elfman smirked.  
"Let us go. There is no time to waste. We need to find what we came for." Hades stood up, and the three of them entered the courtyard through the main gate. There was a little man standing in the center of it. He's was wearing a white coat.

"Stop right there, Hades," but they ignored the little man words.  
"Or? What can you do, little man?" Archont transformed into his Titan form, he was so big that his shadow was covering whole courtyard.  
"You will perish, Hades. Return back to your kingdom." Makarov said.  
"I don't think so." Hades removed his coat revealing some kind of special suit.  
"Do you really think that you will be able to defeat me with fancy clothing?" Archont was clearly teasing him.

"Nah, just wait a second and you will see. Strausses move back a little, you will be useful so I don't want to accidentally kill you." Makarov hit Hades with his giant fist, but surprisingly his giant hand was easily blocked like it was weighting nothing.  
Hades smirked "Meteor!" and with lightning fast speed he hit Makarov's jaw multiple times.

"How can it be, that you are so fast?!" Makarov asked the Lord of Underworld in confusion.  
"You see.. Jellal's body is really useful. He was the one that invented Heavenly Body Magic after all. Unfortunately he wanted something from me, and I took his body as a payment."  
"You truly disgust me. There's no forgiveness for what you have done to this city, to my children… I will kill you in this instant." Makarov said as he was putting his hands together before his face, he was back to his normal size.

"Fairy Law!" Massive flash of light took place, lighting the whole palace.  
"Nice flash, but now you die." Hades stood unharmed by Makarov's spell.  
"B-but how?! You should be dead!" Archont was shocked.

"Fairy Law, a magic that recognizes enemies by the user's heart, it's a really powerful spell. But your problem is that deep in your heart you don't think that we are your enemies. You think that Jellal can be saved somehow, because you know how much he has meant to Erza, and you are right there is a way but it's none of your concern. Oh and you can't forget about the Strauss family do you?" Hades was smiling, coming closer and closer to the old man.

"You bastard! You've tricked me!" Makarov yelled at him, he was nearly out of the magic energy so he tried to cast his last spell, but it was already too late for him.

"Oh yes I did, and you know what? It feels great to see Archont of the Olympus, Makarov Dreyar defeated like a child that he always was." Hades had that scary smile on his face.  
"Meteor!" And just like that his hand pierced right through Archont's little body.

"They will avenge me, my children... they will have justice..." Old man was coughing up blood.  
"And you are talking about...? Your precious grandson lies unconscious, Icesmith is already possessed by the demon, Dragneel was taken care of and I'm taking your beloved scarlet haired high priestess with me. Oh we will have so much fun! Now is there anything else you want to tell me? No? That's a shame, you now?" he pulled his hand out of the Makarov's body.

"I think that was unnecessary, Lord Hades." Elfman said.  
"Shut up! We have no time left, with that damned Fairy Law all of our troops were decimated. We need to hurry." He said as he was entering the main part of the place.  
"Now where I would be if I were a key to Tartaros' gates, any ideas?" Hades asked. He was calm again.  
"Maybe in the throne hall?" Elfman suggested.  
"No, it would be too simple. It's somewhere else, somewhere like... I know!" Mirajane rushed to the statue representing the ninth demon of the Tartaros. She could see some kind of hidden stash beneath it.  
"Uoh, really clever from their side, let me open it." Elfman put his hand of the pedestal and the stash opened.

"Are you kidding me?! There's nothing here! Where is that damn Key?" Hades rushed to them and saw an empty hole. It was in a shape of cross-like necklace. His minded drifted away to the day when he met Icesmith in his hospital room.

"I know where it is, we need to find this Cursed Icesmith! Spread out and go! There is no time to waste you fucking morons!" Lord of the Underworld yelled at them. Strausses did as he said, Mirajane flew in her Satan Soul form and Elfman changed in some kind of cat-like demon, he was moving with high speed.

_Damn it, I had it in my hands back then,_ Hades thought but before he could use the Meteor spell once again, to search for Gray, he was hit in the back of his head with someone's knee.

"You will die you fucking scum. I will take your life in exchange for my gramp's!" Laxus yelled.  
"How the fuck?! You supposed to be unconscious." Hades replied angrily.  
"Fairy Law is something that cleanses evil and gives us the power to stand up again. Somebody like you won't understand it!" Laxus was mad.

"It doesn't matter I know where the Key is. Now it's just a matter of time." Hades relaxed a little bit.  
"Time my ass! Lightning Dragon's Roar!" Laxus attacked with all the rage gathered inside of him.  
"Meteor!" Hades dodged it with ease and began his counterattack.  
"Grand Chariot!" a thousand projectiles dropped from the sky, each had the strength of a little meteor.  
"Now lay low and don't get up, ok?" Hades said, he was getting cocky.  
"Tch, you'll never learn. No one can outrun the God of Thunder" Laxus appeared behind Hades' back out of nowhere. "Lightning Dragon's Breakdown Fist!" He hit Hades and he hit him hard. His opponent just flew limply.  
"You pathetic piece of shit, I will fucking destroy you." Hades put his hands up in the air and started to gather energy. "Altairis!" He sent a huge ball of gravity energy in the direction where Laxus was standing.  
"Too slow! You need to keep up with me to even stand a chance, you know?" Thunder God e was just behind him. He kicked him in the back and backed off a little bit. Hades was really irritated at that moment.

"Tch, there is something that even lightning can't outrun, you know that?" Laxus was concerned about Hades words, so he took a defensive stance.  
"I will show you, but unfortunately this whole city will go extinct. I will find the Key anyway. It's indestructible, so whatever."  
Hades bowed down and pointed his hands downwards, with all the fingers closed except the index and middle fingers then began to slowly move his right hand until it pointed upwards. The clouds above begin circling around, forming a cyclone.  
_Shit! Looks like I'm in some trouble and I don't have any magic left. This guy is just crazy._ Laxus thought, but right back then, behind Hades, a woman has appeared.

"My Lord we must retreat. We know now where the Key is, so it's pointless to risk our plan for something like this."  
"Yes, yes you are right." Hades calmed down, the sky was clear once again.  
"Mira? Mirajane Strauss? Is that really you?" Laxus asked. He shocked with what he just saw.  
"Laxus..." Her eyes were full of sorrow and just like that she and Hades disappeared. Leaving the mighty Thunder God, where he stood.

* * *

Gajeel entered the bookstore, and instantly scanned the whole place with his eyes. There was nothing suspicious there, so he tried to hide somewhere in the store. When suddenly something hit him in his head, he felt dizzy for a while but he managed to turn away. He saw a tiny girl with blue hair tied up with a colorful bandana around her head. She was wearing an orange dress, and holding a book.

"Get out of my bookstore you… you monster!" She yelled at him.  
"Whoah, whoah, whoah shrimp, just cool do-..." Another hit with a book this time right in his face. Gajeel was caught off guard, but this time he was angry. He will simply defeat her and just try to catch some rest here, but strangely he was unable to make a move.  
"What is this shit!?" he yelled in frustration.  
"Hmpf, monsters don't have the right to talk." She replied, pointing out her tongue.  
"I'm telling you little shrimp that I'm not a friggin monster!" Gajeel was getting really irritated.  
"Bla, bla, bla stupid monster, just shut up." she was clearly teasing him.  
"Grau! Imma tear you to shreds, you little shrimp!" the Iron Dragon Slayer was now furious.

_BAM!_ Another hit with the book.

"Stop calling me a shrimp, you monster!" she yelled at him.  
_Okay I need to play this cool, or I will be trapped here forever with this damn girl, or even worse Hades will find me and just kill me. Think Gajeel! Think!_ He took a deep breath.

"Ok so let us start again. My name is Gajeel Redfox and you are?" he started calmly.  
"I'm Levy, Levy McGarden. I'm the owner of this bookstore." girl replied politely.  
"And may I ask how you managed to seal my movements?" he was curious about it.  
"Oh this? This was easy since I'm the Royal Runemaster." she stated matter-of-factly.  
"You are what, shrimp?!" And there went another hit right in the top of Gajeel's head.  
"I'm the Royal Runemaster you moron and there is no way that you can escape my runes." She was petite, but she sounded very confident.  
"Gihi let us find out." He stood up and straightened. "Iron Dragon's Sword" nothing, "Iron Dragon's Scales" his whole body was covered with iron scales "Iron Dragon's Hard Fist" still nothing.

"Da fuq is with these runes?! Why won't they break?!" Gajeel was back to his angry self.  
"Like I said before, I'm the Royal Runemaster and I make the principles that allow people to cross the borders of my runes. You will be held captive for now, and my runes are hiding your magic signature, so they won't find you either. Just sit down and relax, you are now an Olympus' prisoner." Suddenly a white light blinded them both, but it wasn't present in Gajeel's rune restricted zone.

"And it seems that I just saved your life, you stupid monster." She stated.  
"What are you talking about?" He asked confused.  
"You saw that light?" Levy asked him.  
"Yeah." He nodded.  
"That was Fairy Law. You would be dead in an instant, but my runes have protected you. I guess you will be in my debt now." Her gaze turned to the window.  
"Tch , I guess so..." he said resigned.  
"Now if you ask nicely I will give you some tea." Levy said cheerfully.  
"There is no fucking way that I'm going to ask you nicely, you shrimp!" And again a book hit Gajeel right in his face.  
"You are a stupid monster after all! I should just take all the air from your rune cage!" She started to manipulate the runes that were surrounding Gajeel.  
"Whoah! Don't be so rush, as far as I know I'm the only one left here, so I'm your only source of information right now." He was a little scared.  
"You may be right... I will spare you for now. Let the court decide on your fate." She opened a random book and started to read it.

* * *

Gray was still stuck in that damned stone coffin, but he was no longer a mess. He was trying to make himself a way out there, but he decided not to use any ice magic. Since this was apparently the reason he had gone berserk earlier. He was just trying to crush the stone with his bare, demon hands, because he felt no pain in them. It was an irony for him, he lost his limbs trying to defeat the demon, yet he was a demon himself. He got his limbs back with the help of gods but in the end those cursed limbs made him go berserk. He punched the stone wall one last time. Helpless, that one word was in his mind. Suddenly he heard some kind of mumbling on the other side. He moved closer to the wall and eavesdropped.

"Natsu you can't do it!" Lucy was yelling.  
"Shuuuush Luce I'm going to do it." Natsu said certainly.  
"Gray-sama, if you can hear us please back off!" Juvia yelled.

_What are they talking about?_ Gray thought but it was too late. Natsu already managed to break the stone wall of Gray's coffin, a lot of dust was in the air.

"You stupid bastard what were you thinking?!" Icesmith yelled at the Dragon Slayer.  
"Really, you don't need to thank me." he replied.  
"Gray, you are okay" Lucy hugged him.  
"Yeah. I guess I'm fine..." he said sheepishly.  
"Juvia is glad that Gray-sama is back to his normal self."  
"But Natsu how is it that you are here instead of fighting Martyrs?" Gray asked.

"I lost... but he spared me. Somehow he has known who I am, but that's irrelevant now. We need to go and help gramps I saw that they were going to the Heavenly Palace. There must be something in there that they want..." Before he could finish someone interrupted him.  
"Wait, wait, wait, YOU LOST?! How we will be able to defeat them if YOU have lost to them?" Lucy was scared.  
"Tch, I was drained from my previous fights, as I said earlier we need to help gramps. Are you going with me Gray?" he turned to him.

"I don't know if I should. I mean I may go berserk again..." Gray was uncertain.  
"Nah, that's actually good we can use you in that state and kick their asses" Natsu smiled.  
"Hah. How can I refuse if you put it this way?" Gray was feeling better.  
"Juvia will go too, she wants to help!" Death goddess said.  
"Ok! So lets g-..." Natsu stopped. Some kind of light was coming their way.  
"So the gramps has used it after all. I guess we shouldn't be worry about the Fairy Law." But when Natsu finished his sentence Gray dropped to his knees and started to coughing up blood.  
"Wha-what's going on with Gray?" Lucy asked. Gray started vomiting and was now on all fours.  
"What did you do to Gray-sama?!" Juvia yelled anxiously.

"I don't know, ok? Fairy Law should spare all that gramps considered good in his heart. Unless..."  
"Demons... It has to be some kind of taint that Gray is carrying within him." Lucy said sadly.  
"Will Gray-sama be all right?" Gray was breathing heavily it looked like his problems ended but he was now the weakest person in the city.  
"I... I will be ok" and he started to cough up blood again.  
"Juvia will take Gray-sama to Wendy and Chelia. They should be able to patch him up." her voice was full of devotion.  
"Are you sure?" Lucy asked.  
"Yes, priestess. Juvia is sure. Now go!" Lucy and Natsu went in the direction of the Heavenly Palace.  
"You should have left me and go. I'm nothing more than a demon's spawn now." he said with the little strength which he had left.  
"No, Gray-sama. For Juvia y-you are something more." She said, blushing. And so she picked him up and flew to the place where Gray's rampage began, to find Chelia and Wendy and most importantly to help him. Silver necklace was still on his neck.

* * *

Hades was back in his palace, Strauss siblings were standing behind his throne.

"It looks like we have lost Gajeel in the fight." Elfman said.  
"He was expendable." Hades stated emotionlessly.  
"What we'll do about that Icesmith and the Key?" Mira asked.  
"You shouldn't worry. He will come to us." Her Lord replied.  
"But why he would do such thing?" Elfman asked curiously.  
"To save his precious friend." Hades approached a room that was next door to the throne hall. In a big, royal bed was lying a certain scarlet haired woman.  
"You won't restraint her movements, my Lord?" Mira asked.  
"There is no need to do so. She wouldn't harm her old friend's body." Hades was back on his throne planning his next moves.

* * *

In the Heavenly Palace Laxus was trying to stop Makarov's bleeding.

"Hold on gramps. Everything will be alright, don't you dare die on me, you heard me?" Laxus was shaking.  
"Cough! I think it's my time grandson..." Archont started.  
"You know nothing, you old geezer! You can't just leave this whole mess on my head." God of Thunder was practically yelling at his grandfather.  
"Hah... Laxus my boy, you are a King of Olympus, after all you will handle such thing as managing the city. So now with my power I appoint you the new Archont of this city. Try to hold on kid..."  
"Gramps? Gramps?!" Laxus was in disbelief.

"We came as fast as we could, wha-..." Natsu stopped.  
"Gramps is he?" Fire Dragon Slayer asked, clenching his fists.  
"Yes." Laxus replied. Lucy started to cry.  
"They will pay for this." Natsu was unfolding deadly aura.  
"Oh yes, they will pay." Lightnings started to strike from the heavens.

* * *

Levy was looking out of the window.

"I guess it's over now. I can go get some help and move you to the jail." Petite girl said.  
"Yeah, it looks like they left me behind." Gajeel said resigned.  
"You will be a fine acquisition for our interrogation corps. I heard that they can be rough." Levy looked at him, Gajeel straightened up. " You don't know what I have endured so far, so I think they won't be a challenge for me."  
"You sure are confident, mister Redfox." Levy smiled to him.  
"Sure I am, there nothing else left for me." She left, leaving him alone in her bookstore.

* * *

Juvia has finally found the two girls that were hiding in the court building. She was holding unconscious Gray in her arms.

"Oracle can you help Gray-sama?" She had tears in her eyes.  
"What has happened to him?" Wendy asked.  
"He got hit by the Fairy Law." Juvia put Gray on the nearest bed.  
"Fairy Law? That's impossible..." Blue haired girl said with disbelief.  
"He's a demon I knew it! Get him out of here! He's a disgrace to our people!" Chelia yelled. Her eyes were full of fear, she has feared Gray from the time she saw him in the hospital.  
"No. He's my friend, we need to help him." Wendy said firmly.  
"Juvia begs you. Please help him." she dropped to her knees tears, were running down her cheeks.  
"I will do my best, goddess." Wendy said, she was getting ready to start the healing procedure.

After a while they started the treatment, Juvia was sitting near Gray's bed, she was holding his demon hand and promised to herself that she would never let it him go.


	9. Chapter 9: Guilt

Gray woke up in the infirmary.

He was still feeling dizzy and confused, the last thing that he could remember was Juvia and her concerned face. He turned his head to the left and saw her, she was sleeping on the chair. Her wings were folded. Juvia's head was hanging limply, she was clearly sleeping, but one thing has drawn his attention. She was clinging to his demon-like, ice hand as if her life was depending on it.  
He couldn't feel anything. There was neither warm nor touch. He felt something in his chest, some kind of pain but it wasn't physical. It was more like an emotional pain, because there were things that he wouldn't be able to do ever again, such as feeling someone's hand in his own.

"Gray-sama..." She mumbled. Gray looked at her with curiosity, she was apparently still dreaming.  
"Gray-sama, please don't do this, Juvia begs you." He was getting more and more interested with her dream.  
"NO!" She yelled and woke up. Juvia looked at her hand, then at Gray and blushed violently. After a while she took her hand back, a light shade of red was adorning her cheeks.  
"Bad dream, huh?" He asked, his gaze was set on the ceiling.  
"Umm... yes..." She replied sheepishly.  
"What was it about?" Icesmith asked.  
"Erm... It was... It was about Juvia. Yes! She was falling down into the black pit." She was clearly lying, but Gray had no clue why the goddess was lying to him. He thought that he would not investigate it, not now.  
"Juvia must conduct Archont's soul to the Elysium, so she will be gone for some time. Please don't do anything rush Gray-sama," she asked him pleadingly.

"A-Archont Makarov is dead?! Why didn't you tell me earlier I must go! NOW!" All colors were drained from Juvia's face.  
_Stupid Juvia! You shouldn't tell him!_She thought but it was too late. Gray was trying to get up from his bed, but he was still too weak. In addition Juvia was trying to keep him in bed with her hands.

"Gray-sama, you can't go. Not in this state. You will die half way to the Grand Graveyard." She was trying to reason with him.  
"Let me go!" he yelled. In that moment she felt a familiar feeling. His demon limbs were emanating that scary mist once again.  
"I said let me go!" Gray pushed Juvia so hard, that she stopped on the wall. His eyes were once again full of anger. Juvia was scared, she didn't know what to do.  
"Oracle! Oracle, please come here! Juvia needs some help!" The door opened, there was a young blue haired girl standing in them.  
"What happened, goddess?" Wendy asked before she could notice that Gray was back on his feet.  
"Gray, you need to calm down and lay down. Can you hear me Gray?" There was no answer, person standing in front of her was not moving, he was just heavily breathing.  
"I... need... to... go..." He mumbled with voice, that didn't sound as Icesmith's usual voice.  
"I will give you now a medicament and you will be free to leave, ok?" Wendy said, while she was getting closer and closer to Gray. When she was close enough she pricked his arm and injected him with some kind of sedative. Icesmith started to feel dizzy again.  
"What you have done to me?!" He yelled.  
"I just injected you with a very strong sedative, you will sleep for some time." Wendy replied, but Gray managed to turn in Juvia's direction.  
"I... I hate you." He said, pointing at her with his finger and then just fell on the ground.  
"Goddess, please help me put him back in his bed" Wendy asked.  
"Yes..." Juvia replied absent minded. Short after that she has left to do her task. When she was high in the air she started to cry, tears were running down her cheeks mixing with the rain that was following her that whole time.  
"Gray-sama hates Juvia..." Death sobbed. That was all she was able to say through her tears.

Juvia waited until the Makarov's funeral ceremony ended. She didn't want to be caught in some internal Olympus affairs, because of the priestess that could see her, or to confront Laxus Dreyar in his current state. If the man would see that she was taking his grandfather's soul away he could go berserk the same way that Gray went in infirmary.

After checking that the place was empty, she got closer to Archont's grave. There was a lot of flowers and candles, it was a sad but beautiful at the same time. Juvia used her powers and the soul of the old Dreyar came out from his grave.

"Ah, so you came as quickly as you could, goddess." Makarov greeted her.  
"Yes, Juvia will get you to the Hades in no time, Grand Archont." She said with respect, because he was a respectable man his whole life.  
"Please, just call me Makarov. There is no need for formalities now, but can I ask you one question?" He said politely.  
"Yes, Juvia doesn't see any contraindications." she nodded.  
"Is my grandson holding well?" Archont was looking in the clouded sky.  
"Yes, he is in big grief, but he is holding well." Juvia smiled to the wizard saint.  
"That's good to know." Makarov smiled back "Now, let us go."

They went to the Hades. When Juvia opened the gates Cerberus was already there, guarding them. Makarov wasn't scared of the giant three headed dog, so Juvia played with her beloved puppy for a while. He recognized her and was back to his normal size, there was no need for them to hurry. She has got all of eternity. When they reached the place where Charon was usually setting sail, with the souls of the dead, old man started a really strange conversation.

"What you think about Gray?" Makarov asked, his eyes were set on some point in the distance. Juvia blushed slightly but answered to his question.  
"Juvia thinks that Gray-sama is a good man and a great mage, but... but he said that he hates Juvia." She saddened.  
"Oooooh, he wouldn't ever say something like that. Are you sure, goddess?" Makarov kept on asking.  
"Juvia doesn't know for sure. He looked like he was under the influence of his powers again."  
"I knew it." Archont's face became serious.  
"You knew what, Makarov?" Juvia was becoming suspicious.

"You see goddess, nobody besides the Council and Gray knows it but his father was actually the Ninth Guardian of the Tartaros" Juvia paled.  
"Are you implying that Gray-sama is Silver's son?! That's impossible! If this is true he should be a deformed monster which doesn't resemble a human being in any way!" she yelled.  
"I think so too. Have you seen anything odd about him when he went berserk?' Juvia has thought for a while  
"Those ice limbs of his... They are making this strange mist when Gray-sama is using his Ice Magic and his eyes, there are entirely different, it's like his not in his body anymore."  
"Damn... it's just as I feared. You see young goddess… it looks like when he uses his Ice Magic the demon power that dwells in him takes control over his actions. It is like some kind of poison that affects your mind." He explained to her.

"Will Gray-sama be okay?" Juvia was worried.  
"Yes and no." He replied mysteriously.  
"Juvia doesn't understand." She was getting confused.  
"You see if Gray won't use his power for a longer period of time he should be fine and back to his old self, but if he uses it too much his demon powers will consume him. There won't be such a man as Icesmith anymore. His body will go through transformation and he will become a demon, a very powerful one which has to be slain in an instant or else he will destroy the world that we know. In fact the best option is to slay him now." Juvia was terrified with his words.

"Didn't you suppose to be someone like grandfather for all the people living in the Olympus?" She was beginning to fear the wizard saint.  
"Yes, but as an Archont I was always putting the city safety over everything else." He replied in his defense.  
"Juvia thinks that she should be going now. Charon will be here in no time." She was about to fly away when Makarov spoke.  
"You can't safe him. No matter what you do, he's cursed by the fate and..." His speech was interrupted by Death.  
"Juvia believes that fate is something that everybody can choose by themselves."

It took her quite some time but she was in front of her and Loke's hut. It never stopped amazing her how magically big and elegant it was inside of it. Loke was sitting on his favorite chair, with lion head on its bolster.

"I heard that you made a new friend out there. His name is Gray, isn't it?" He was looking seriously.  
"Umm... yes." She replied sheepishly.  
"And I assume that, by now, you're aware whose son he is?" Loke was keeping asking hard questions for her.  
"How do you know that?" she replied curiously.  
"Na-a-a-a I'm the one asking questions here." He wagged his finger at her.  
"Yes, Juvia is aware." She bowed her head.  
"Do you want to do something about it?" Loke asked curiously.  
"Juvia... Juvia doesn't know… She gets this weird feeling when she's near him. It's like the rain is about to stop. Juvia feels a strange grudge towards that Aphrodite's high priestess, especially when she's near Gray-sama." She was blushing and playing with her wings.

"Looks like Death has fallen in love, huh? I was thinking that I would never see it," a big smile appeared on Loke's face.  
"Lo-Love? Juvia doesn't love Gray-sama!" She was blushing even more.  
"Yeah, yeah sure you don't," he was teasing her. "But if you want to help that Icesmith of yours, who is actually in the center of everybody's attention, you should take him to Elysium. They will help him there."  
"Elysium is Loke-san nuts? There is no way that someone will be able to enter there without a help of... oohhhhh Juvia sees it now. She will take Gray-sama to the Elysium and remove his curse." She was getting more and more confident.  
"That's my girl! Now tell me how this Aphrodite's priestess looks like. I've heard that they are really beautiful and..." He started but Juvia interrupted him  
"No! Juvia refuses to talk about that stupid priestess, she's Juvia's rival now!"  
"Whoah, whoah, whoah girl. Don't get so psyched or else you will need a treatment yourself" Loke was trying to calm Juvia down.  
"Yes, Juvia is sorry she got a little carried away." She sat on the couch and Loke just smiled to her.

* * *

Back in the hospital Laxus was prying each and every door in there. He was searching for Gray, it was all his fault. What was more he was a threat to the whole city, but Wendy wouldn't tell him where he was.

"Laxus please stop, you will ruin the whole hospital!" Girl was yelling at him.  
"I don't care about it. You can just say me where he is so I won't need to tear this whole place apart." He was threatening her.  
"I can't! Gray is my friend." She was avoiding eye contact with Laxus.  
"Yes, a friend, who nearly killed half of our forces and the Main Strategist. He's a friggin demon, kid. Just say me where he is and I will take care of him. I command you as the King of Olympus."

"He's in the room 365B..." She said with her head bowed down.  
"You made this city a great favor, Oracle." He was gone in the blink of an eye.

Laxus was standing in front of the door with label "365B". He pushed it and entered the room. There was only the Death goddess inside. She was sitting on the floor her back pressed on the wall. She was hiding her face in her hands, but he could hear that she was crying.

"Where the fuck is Icesmith?!" Laxus yelled at her. She raised her head, her eyes were red.  
"Juvia doesn't know, ok? She went back here from Hades and he was already gone."  
"You are lying! There is no fucking way that you wouldn't know where that demon spawn went." She stood up, spread her black feather wings and grabbed Laxus by his collar, tears were still running down her cheeks.

"I told you that I do not know!" Juvia was so angry that she even used first person. After a moment she realized what she was doing. She let him go and apologized "Juvia is sorry." Laxus was shocked with her reaction.

"Tch, I guess that you speak the truth, but I remind you that's your duty to catch him and bring him to me. He needs to die and faster means better."  
"Y-yes" He was the King of Gods, she was obligated to do as he says.

Death was back to sitting on the floor and crying. Juvia couldn't understand why Gray has left and where he could possibly go in his state. It just didn't make any sense to her.

"Um... can I come in?" Wendy asked shyly.  
"Yes... Please come in, Oracle." Juvia wasn't crying anymore but her eyes were still red. Wendy just sat near the Death goddess and they were sitting like that for a while. Surprisingly Juvia was the first to break the silence

"Do you think Gray-sama will be alright?" She asked the little girl.  
"I don't know, but he is a tough man. I mean he endured so much… for example: the Divine Punishment, he was possessed by the demon powers and he lost someone who was like a mother to him. He is strong." Wendy said trying to cheer the goddess up

"Juvia knows that Gray-sama is strong but she is afraid of his sanity. Being alone at a time like this can change you…" She said resigned.  
"He will be ok. If we can just find him before Laxus or Hades does..." The silence was back. Two girls were just sitting on the floor and thinking about what the future would bring.

* * *

Gajeel was locked down in some kind of a secret prison. He didn't know where he was exactly because they kept a bag on his head during the transport from the bookstore. He was bored as hell. There was nothing to do in his tiny cell. So he was just lying on the bed and staring at ceiling, he was still handcuffed. Suddenly he heard some kind of a noise on the other side of the door and they have opened after a short time. In the door's frames was standing a Divine Guardian.

"Prisoner number 53, Gajeel Redfox, please follow this unit." Divine Guardians were reminding the Bloodseeker about Martyrs, their minds and hearts were equally empty.

"Ok, ok I will follow you." They were going through the dark long hallway. There were many cells but most of them were empty, mainly because Olympus City had not any real enemies. On the end of the corridor Gajeel noticed a suspiciously looking door. Apparently it was his destination point. Guardian opened the door and let him inside. Gajeel looked around, it was a very bright room; walls there were white. In the center of the room were standing a table and two chairs, there were also other doors and a large mirror.

"Please have a sit." Voice from nowhere said. Gajeel sat relaxed on a chair, placing his shoes on the table. The other door opened there was a man standing in them. He had a spiky white hair.  
"I'm Lyon Vastia, the Main Strategist of Olympus." He presented himself while taking a seat on the other side of the table.  
"And I'm Princess Cinderella, nice to meet you." Bloodseeker replied sarcastically.  
"Oh. Sarcastic, aren't we?" Lyon stood up and walked closely to Gajeel who was looking suspiciously at the white haired man. Before he could react Strategist grabbed him by his head and slammed it on the table.  
"The hell is wrong with you?!" Gajeel yelled trying to massage his face. It was too little to hurt him, but he could feel the pain.  
"We can play it nicely or I will just tear you apart. You see with these handcuffs you can't use your powers."

_Shit!_Gajeel thought, he was planning on busting out from that place.

"So who are you?" Vastia asked again.  
"Gajeel Redfox, Brigadier General in Martyr's Army." He replied calmly this time.  
"You see that wasn't so hard, was it? Now tell me what you were looking for in the Heavenly Palace?" The interrogation continued.  
"The hell I should know? I was supposed to create a distraction and chaos in the city for the rest. So they could proceed to the palace, but I don't know what they were looking for there." He replied sincerely.

"Hmm... and how you penetrated our defenses?" Lyon was curious about it.  
"Let me just say, that you don't know you people very well, mister Strategist" Gajeel smirked deviously, this time Lyon has kicked Bloodseeker's chair so he fell from it.  
"Oh and we can't forget about that friend of yours... Gray Fullbuster, wasn't it?" Gajeel started to laugh when he finished that sentence. Lyon snapped and started to kick Martyr in his guts, but he kept on laughing no matter how hard he was kicking.  
"You are going to die and I will hunt down that fucking excuse of an ice mage!" Lyon was furious and tired.  
"You can't kill what is already dead." Gajeel said with a smirk, little drip of blood fell off his mouth.

He wasn't aware that a certain little blunette was standing on the other side of the mirror. Her eyes were filled up with pain and sorrow.

* * *

Gray was standing on the hill. He could see Hades' main gate from there. As well as the smoke that was still coming from the Olympus' walls. He still couldn't believe what has happened during the last few hours.

Gray woke up. He regained his strength after Wendy's sedatives. One sentence that he has said to Juvia was haunting his mind. He said that he hated her. Why he would even said something like that? It didn't make any sense or him.  
While he was lying in his bed, lost in his thoughts a woman appeared in his room. She had long black hair, was wearing white robes and holding a lily in her hand. At first Gray didn't even noticed her, but after a while he could feel someone's presence and a very strong aura in the room. He looked at her and instantly became pale. That woman looked just like his master, Ur.

"Ur, Ur is that you?" He asked, not believing his own eyes.  
"No Icesmith. I'm Ultear, queen of the gods." She said calmly but Gray's eyes were wide.  
"Bu-but you look exactly like her." He wasn't able to comprehend what was happening.  
"Ur was my mother." She said with sadness in her eyes.  
"Y-you are Ur's daughter?! The one that we weren't suppose to ask about?" Gray was still in shock.  
"Hah, my mother and I had... let just say that we had difficulties in our relations. I came here to ask you for your help, Icesmith." She seemed troubled.  
"I will do anything. Because of me Ur is now an ice. I want to redeem my sins somehow." He was more than willing to help her.  
"Thank you, do you know where Elysium is?" She asked him.  
"Yes, it's a sacred ground of the dead in Hades." Gray replied.  
"Indeed, I need you to go there and kill a certain man that is a threat to the world that we know. He lives with the dead, you need to find him there and kill him." Ultear was dead serious.

"But in my current state I'm unable to do anything..." He replied with resignation.  
"That can be helped." She gave him a vial with some kind of liquid in it. "Drink this and you will be as good as new." Gray took the vial from her and without even thinking he drank the potion. His wounds healed in an instant, and he was back to his full strength. Icesmith couldn't believe it.  
"Now go my champion. Go and kill the man living with the dead, who is plaguing the sacred place." She said to him and vanished.

Gray jumped out of the window. He slid down the wall with his demon claws. As soon as his foots hit the ground, he used a cloaking spell that Ur once taught him, and moved slowly but steadily to the main gate of the Olympus.

And know he was in point of no return. Cursed by fate and his own blood running through his veins, the least thing he could do was make a favor to Ultear, his master's daughter. There was no turning back for him. He needed somehow to get to the Elysium and find his target. He looked at the city walls one, last time.

_I will find him and kill him, for Ur_

And so, he started to march in the direction of the main gate to the Underworld with his ice demon legs.

* * *

In the Dark Palace Hades was having a nice chat with Ultear. They were sitting at the big table made from pure, white bones and drinking wine from golden cups.

"So you say that the fool took the bait?" Hades smiled to her.  
"Yes, you should have seen him. He was adorable, as soon as I said to him that I'm Ur's daughter he was willing to throw his life away for me. What a stupid fool."  
"Mortals, huh? So we will just have to wait for him now. When he will try to enter Elysium the guards will kill him and we'll have to just take his necklace from his dead body."  
"It seems so. What you have done with that high priestess?" Ultear asked curiously.  
"Erza? She amuses me. She still thinks that her Jellal is somewhere in this body. I will keep her as insurance. Laxus would not lay a finger on me as long as she is here."

Several rooms deeper into the palace there was a priestess lying in her royal sized bed. She wasn't happy not at all, she was crying with her face hid in the pillows, repeating one sentence. "Jellal, why did you give up your body, why?" Red haired woman was unable to comprehend that.

* * *

***Still looking for Beta.**


	10. Chapter 10: Exile

After the interrogation Gajeel was back in his cell. He had some bruises, but nothing serious. His bath in Styx made him very durable. Bloodseeker was trying to come up with some sort of a plan to escape from his prison. He knew that the moment where he became useless for Olympus Task Forces they would eliminate him. Like some kind of trash and that was not a good thing for him.  
Suddenly the door opened and there was a familiar, little blunette standing in there. She was wearing an Olympus Military uniform and he must admit that it was suiting her. She had dark blue pants and matching jacket with gold buttons. Her hair was tied in a ponytail, and a blue hat, with an emblem representing some kind of rune, was on her head.

"Hello mister Redfox, nice place you have here." She started with a teasing tone.  
"Yeah. It's not big but it's quite comfortable." Gajeel replied as if her tease had no effect.  
"I know that Lyon's interrogation can be quite hard to take." She started closing the door behind her.  
"Hah, and how can you know that? You are on the _good_ side. It's not like he interrogated you too." At his word Levy had rolled up her right sleeve. Her arm was covered in bruises.  
"Lyon can be a little harsh. He's the type that wants you to say what he wants to hear. He was asking me about our earlier encounter and got a little carried away."

_Just what kind of man is he, to think that he would interrogate his own comrade._

"Anyway" she continued, "what exactly do you know about Gray Fullbuster, the Icesmith?"  
"Hah, informations aren't cheap." She showed him a key to his handcuffs.  
"I see that your military has a real problem with loyalty." He said grinning.  
"I just need to find a friend, nothing more." She tried to justify herself.  
"Ok, so I don't know much but this is what I can tell you. He was originally some part of Hades' plan to release Uranos from his prison beyond the Ninth Gate, but to do so Hades needs someone to get the Cronus' Scythe and the Key. Your friend is also partially a demon." Levy paled, that wasn't what she was prepared for.

"Do you mean that Hades is planning to release the Uranos from his prison?" She asked with panic in her voice.  
"It looks like it, but it's none of my business." Gajeel replied.  
"Bu-But his rage will destroy the whole world. It'll be like an apocalypse." Levy said with fear.  
"As I said that's not my problem." He replied, emotionlessly.  
"Stupid Gajeel!" She yelled at him and he was surprised with it. "And that demon story… It can't be true! It's some kind of a lie!"  
"Look shrimp, I said all that I know. Now, can you just give me the key? Pretty please?" He asked her politely.

"Here you go," she threw him the key, "just go and don't you dare to come back here." She turned her back at him and started to open the door, when suddenly he grabbed her from behind and put his sword shaped arm near her neck.

"Gihi, you are going with me. You are my ticket to freedom. Now, let us take a ride, shall we?" The shadows embraced the two of them and just like that they were gone.

After a few minutes Lyon just destroyed the cell door, he heard that the Royal Runemaster Levy McGarden has gone to see that Martyr guy and he had this weird feeling in his gut. When he saw that there was no one left in the cell he went nuts. Lyon grabbed the Divine Guardian which was in charge of this block and froze him, shattering to the pieces after a short while. He had nothing, no Icesmith and no captive. That day was getting worse and worse for Lyon.

A big shadow has appeared in the Levy's apartment which was above her bookstore and two people emerged from it. Levy was sweating. Her uniform was torn in some places mainly on her back and legs. She dropped to her knees, exhausted; dramatically gasping for air. Behind her was standing a man with long black hair. He looked like nothing special has happened.

"Wha-What... was... that?" Levy asked, she still tired from their journey.  
"That? That was a fast travel through the Shadow Realm." he stated matter-of-factly.  
"And the things that attacked us there?" Levy was back on her feet.

"They are the native citizens of the Shadow Realm. Going through the shadows allows you to travel with great speed and undetected by your enemies. But you need to run from the beasts living inside that realm." Gajeel was trying to explain it.

"You're insane, but you already know that. Why would you bring me to my own apartment?" She asked curiously.  
"Because you're going to pack up some things and you'll help me to bust out from this city."  
"Pffff, there's no way I will do such a thing." She knew that she was playing with fire there.  
"Yeah? So maybe I should leave Lyon a note that certain Runemaster set me free, huh?" He tried to blackmail her.  
"Ok, ok you won." She said resigned "Gihi." Gajeel smirked.  
"Just tell me how to escape this city and we'll be off." He was looking curiously around Levy's apartment.  
"It's really easy, I just need to rewrite some runes near the broken wall, and you will be able to go through them. It's necessary, since we increased the security level after your attack."

"Ok, so pick up what you need and let's go, shrimp." He commanded her.  
"Don't, call me like that!" She yelled at him and puffed out her cheeks.  
"And what are you going to do about it?" He was teasing her, and indeed there was nothing she could do about that, for now.  
"Are you ready?" He asked her. "Yes, we can go now." Gajeel walked towards her and, to her surprise, he hugged her tightly.

"Wha-What are you doing?" She asked blushing lightly. "We don't want something to happen to you, do we?" He was getting cocky.  
"Stupid..." They vanished in the shadows once again.

They appeared near one of the breaches in the Olympus Wall. This time Levy was all right. Apparently it was all thanks to Gajeel's hug, his whole shirt on his back was ripped off. He had also a few scratches, but nothing serious.

"Here we are. Now you start your job, shrimp." Levy walked slowly to the wall, and placed a hand on it. In response to her touch the runes have appeared. Instead of rewriting them she just hit them with her little fist. In an instant an enormous X-mark appeared on the wall, glowing and making horribly loud noise.  
"What the fuck did you do?!" Gajeel yelled he couldn't understand what was happening.

"Sorry, but I can't let you escape. You just fell in another trap, mister Redfox." Levy smiled devilishly. "In less than a minute there should be hundreds of men here, ready to capture you or kill you. Oh, and you can be sure that Lyon will be here too." Gajeel just stood there shocked, he hasn't thought of such possibility. This woman was really smart, weak but very smart.

It was almost like she said, but instead of one hundred men there was only Lyon Vastia and his assistant Chelia Blendy. They came on Lyon's majestic ice dragon. When they were on the ground he dismissed it and they were walking slowly to them.

"Lyon why are you alone? Where are our men?" Levy asked Main Strategist, she was surprised.  
"I've commanded them not to come, because I can handle little traitors like you all by myself," he smiled.  
"Traitors?" Levy asked with disbelief.  
"Exactly, since you helped our prisoner," he pointed at Gajeel "…. what was his number... 53? Anyway you've become a traitor, Levy McGaraden the Royal Runemaster and thank you for revealing your position it was very helpful," he said ironically.  
"Lyon you can't be serious, is this some kind of a joke?" Levy was panicking, she's heard that Vastia was not in his top mental shape lately, but this was just ridiculous.

"Umm... master maybe you should think twice about it? Killing the Royal Runemaster won't go unpunished by King Laxus." Chelia said shyly.  
"Stop this nonsense Chelia, don't you see that they are clearly refusing to surrender and in that case…. I'm allowed to use brute force, am I right?" He turned his head to his assistant. "Y-Yes..." Chelia relied sheepishly.

"You went nuts since Ur sacrificed herself for Gray. Get a hold of yourself Lyon! You're just a mad man now!" Levy yelled at him, but it was already too late. He took his ice-making stance.

"Ice-Make: Eagle" Ice eagles were flying in her direction.

_This is bad_. Levy wasn't made for direct combat. Her specialty was ambush. When she could place her runes properly she was undefeated. She closed her eyes waiting for an impact, but it never came. When Levy opened her eyes she saw a long black hair in front of her and a man protecting her from the impact.

"I guess that we are now partners in crime." Gajeel smiled to her.  
"It looks that way." Faint smile appeared on her face.  
"Gihi. So you go turn off this runes and I'll stall this guy." He suggested.  
"Yeah," she went to the runes, trying her best to deactivate them, but it would take her some time.

"I'm your opponent now!" Gajeel yelled to Lyon.  
"It doesn't matter. I will kill you both and then find that cursed brother of mine." Lyon was getting angry.  
"I don't think so. Iron Dragon's Scales." Gajeel's whole body was covered in iron scales.  
"Ice-Make: Dragon." Lyon summoned an ice dragon which started to attack Gajeel in no time. He was trying to avoid its attacks but Lyon kept on pushing him with his creation.  
'Ice make Ape. Ice make Tiger." Lyon was trying to keep the pressure on Bloodseeker.  
"Iron Dragon's Sword," Gajeel changed one of his arms in some kind of sword with spiky chain on it. After a while it started to act as a chainsaw, tearing Lyon's dragon apart.

"Eat this!" Gajeel yelled "Iron Dragon's Roar," and a big tornado of metal was going in the direction of Lyon.  
"Sky God's Bellow," Chelia countered the attack that was aimed in her superior with her own magic.

"Who are you?" Gajeel asked confused.  
"I'm Main Strategist's assistant Chelia Blendy, I use the Sky God Slayer magic. Now please surrender before someone gets hurt." She said pleadingly.  
"There's no way I'm going surrender to a kid like you!" Gajeel just got hit by an ice tiger that Lyon has made.  
"You can't win with our combined forces Martyr!" Lyon yelled and before Gajeel could notice Shelia was right in front of him.  
"Sky God's Dance," and just like that he was tossed in the air with great force, but it wasn't ending there, Lyon's ice dragon was waiting for him in mid air. It was getting bad for Gajeel, like really bad.

"It's done!" Levy yelled, but Chelia was already behind her, preparing an attack.

"God Slayer's Secret Art: Heavenly Gathering of Clouds," a massive amount of dark feather wings were sent in Runemaster's direction. You could only hear a loud crash of destroyed debris, but there was no Gajeel nor Levy. Lyon dismissed his creations and was searching through with his keen eyes.

"Fuck this shit! They managed to get away." He kicked a rock in frustration.  
"But master how? There's no way that they could dodge our attacks," Chelia was confused.  
"That Martyr bastard can use some kind of shadow technique allowing him to merge with them and travel through the Shadow Realm." Lyon was getting more and more frustrated. "It still doesn't explain where did Runemaster go," his assistant said.

"He took her with him the last second before the impact. It seems that he is very skilled in combat after all." he said, grinding his teeth.  
"What do we do now master? Shall we pursue them?" she asked.  
"No, it looks like Runemaster has made sure that we won't be able to do that. Now we go to headquarters to plan our next move." Lyon was straightening his clothes.  
"Shouldn't we inform the King about this incident?" Chelia asked curiously.  
"He'll know one way or another that trap made some noise." He summoned an ice dragon ice and the scary duo flew in an unknown direction.

On the other side of wall the two runaways were breathing heavily. One of them was even bleeding. Levy was in her torn military suit, she still couldn't believe that she was in one piece. Gajeel on the other hand was bleeding from his back. Apparently when he grabbed Levy, trying to run from the fight, he got hit with Chelia's attack.

"Gajeel!" Levy screamed anxiously.  
"We don't have time for this. We need to find some place safe," he started to walk but collapsed after few steps.  
"You need help, stupid!" Levy, despite that she was smaller than him, lent him a shoulder to support him.  
"Tch, thanks, shrimp," he smiled faintly.  
"Less talking, more walking." She commanded him.

So they walked, prepared for the worst. Two strangers bonded by the Exile.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Gray was getting closer and closer to the Main Gate of Hades. He didn't know what was waiting for him behind it. He heard that there were actually people living in the ruins of the old city, but life there was unbearable for the most of them. They were eating leftovers and hiding from slave hunters. They had live there more like animals than actual people.

He was getting tired of his whole journey, but he couldn't rest because Lyon or somebody could appear any moment. He needed to keep the distance advantage over his chase.

_I just need to keep going no matter what_, but he stumbled on a rock and fell. Nothing serious, but he felt something poking his head.

"Are you alright mister?" There was a girl poking him with a stick. When Gray got up he saw her, a little girl was standing in front of him. She had a black shoulder-length hair and a pretty face. She was wearing an empty trash bag modified with some duct tape as her clothing. Girl was so thin that he could actually see each of her bones. She was also barefoot. Her feet were covered in dirt. There was also a lot of dirt under her long yellow nails. But she had those beautiful green eyes shining with child's curiosity.  
She was holding her stick in her left hand. Gray was astonished.  
_What is a little girl doing in a place like this?_

"What's your name mister? My name is Lillis, nice to meet you!" He just ignored her and started to walk again.  
"Where are you going mister?" Mysterious girl was following him, her hands laced behind her back.  
"Go away." He said not even looking at her. "But I don't want to..." Girl replied.  
"Ugh, what I need to do for you to leave me alone?" Gray turned back, irritated.  
"You can for starters say me your name, mister." Icesmith thought for a moment about giving her his false name, but she was just a little girl.  
"Ok, I'm Gray. Can you go now?" he was hoping that it would work.  
"Where are you going, Gray?" Lillis asked smiling to him.  
He started to walk, again. "I'm going to Hades, so now go home." He was getting tired of that little girl.

"I live there, but it is soooo boring there, there is no one to play with..." Gray stopped immediately. "Wait, what? You live in that deserted city in Hades?" He asked, he couldn't believe what he had just heard.  
"Mhm, you want to come over?" Lillis asked with hope in her voice. Gray was thinking about all the possibilities and he decided to go with that strange girl.  
"Ok, I will go with you." he stated.  
"Yes!" Girl yelled with happiness.  
"It'll be so much fun." She smiled to Icesmith and took the lead.

Gray noticed that they weren't going in the direction of the main gate, so he asked

"Aren't we suppose to enter through the main gate?"  
"No, no, no, no! We can't. There's a big doggy guarding the entrance if he'll sense you he'll let you in…. but you won't be able to leave Hades, ever." She explained to him with a serious face.  
"Ok, so where are we actually going?" He asked confused.  
"Can you see these mountains? There is a hidden passage that only the citizens of the Lost City know about." She explained to him.  
"Lost City?" Gray asked.  
"Mhm... ," girl nodded "a city forgotten by the world and gods themselves."

After an hour they were standing before some kind of cave or more like a passage in the mountains. Lillis was going through it with no problems, she was little and skinny after all, but Gray wasn't so lucky. Walking through tight passage was rather a challenge for him, his clothes were torn a little bit and they were only half way.

"Come on Gray! Don't be such a slowpoke," girl laughed at him.  
"You little..." He started but lost his balance and slipped on wet rocks.  
"Are you alright?" Girl asked him, she was worried.  
"Yeah, I'll be fine. Let's go." Gray saw a weak light coming from the other side of the tunnel and quickened his pace, catching up with Lillis. He could smell a terrible stench. It was invading his nostrils, that experience surely wasn't pleasing.

Girl turned to him, smiled and said cheerfully "This is my home Gray!" He was shocked. There was only rubble and debris there. Big ancient building were covering the sky. He could hear screams and yells from all around but he hasn't seen anyone.

Lillis grabbed him by his ice hand and dragged in some unknown direction. He was still scanning surroundings with his eyes, looking for danger, but there was none to be found.  
Girl was dragging him in the direction of something that looked like ruined house. There were no windows, just old, squeaky, rusty door. When he came inside his eyes became wide. Living conditions were terrible, to say at least. There was only one room that was not destroyed, yet, and there was something that reminded him of bed in it. He looked back at the smiling girl. His eyes were full of sadness.

"Do you like it, Gray? Take a seat and I'll bring us something to eat!" Lillis said energetically and she went somewhere.  
Icesmith sat and waited for her to come back, thinking about how hard the girl's life was here. Lillis was back in no time, she was holding a parcel with food. She placed it gently on a blanket pretending it was something like picnic, but then Gray has asked her a question.

"Where are your parents, Lillis?" Immediately child's face became sad.  
"They left… they promised that they would come back, but they didn't..." Gray was regretting his question.  
"Umm... Gray can I ask you about something?" Girl asked sheepishly.  
"Yes," he replied simply, still trying to recognize what kind of food he was eating.

"What is wrong with your limbs?" She asked curiously.  
"With these?" he raised his hands.  
"Mhm," girl's eyes were glowing with interest.  
"You know there are actually…. DEMON limbs!" Gray has made a scary face.  
"Noooooo way!" Girl's eyes were literally shining with curiosity.

"Yep, I tell you I don't feel anything in them." Girl started poking his ice leg with a stick. "See, I told you. Now do you want to see some really scary stuff?" Lillis just nodded in response, she was still focusing all of her attention on Icesmith.  
Gray grabbed his right wrist with his left hand and just crushed it so his right hand fell off.  
"Gyaaaaaaah! Gray your hand! Your hand!" Girl was yelling terrified. Gray was laughing, he hadn't so much fun in years.

"Just wait and look," he smiled to her while his ice hand was growing back. Lillis let out a loud "Oooooooo" with her moth wide open.  
"You see I'm an ice mage, apparently a demon one," he explained to her.  
"This is soooo coooool. Can you make me something? Pretty please." She was begging him and making a sad puppy face.  
"Hmmmm let me see... who you always wanted to be?" He asked her.

"A princess!" Girl yelled excited, Gray just smiled to her in response and bring his hands together. After a short a little ice tiara has appeared in them. He placed it on the girl's head. She started to cry.  
"Whoa, did I do something wrong?" He panicked a little.  
"No, it's just… _sniff,_ it's just nobody ever did something so nice for me," and she hugged him with her little skinny arms.

"So, tell me what was that food that you brought, it was quite tasty," now he was curious.  
"Some cooked rat meat. Did you like it?" Gray face changed to green, his organism wanted to throw up, but he managed to hold it inside.


	11. Chapter 11: King

Laxus was sitting on his throne which was on a little pedestal. It was symbolizing his superiority above the others. It was once a beautiful piece of art, but after his fight with Zeus it wasn't as beautiful as before.

You could think that his throne was made from gold, but it wasn't. No one knows why but the main component used to make it was yellow topaz. Apparently it was Zeus' whim, but as was said earlier his throne wasn't flawless anymore. There were scratches on it and one of the two lightning bolts decorating it headrest was missing. Furthermore there was a large hole in it, as if someone punched right through it. There were still bloodstains on it.

Yet it was fitting Laxus' style.

He was sitting relaxed on his throne, when a messenger entered the Royal Chamber. Man knelt and began to speak.

"My king, I have bad news. Captive from Hades' City escaped and Icesmith is gone as well." He was waiting for some kind of punishment for bringing the bad news, but there wasn't any. He looked up at the King. Laxus was staring at some point in the far distance.  
"Tell the Strategist to organize the chase as soon as possible. For what we know he could be already in Hades. We will pursue him to the Tartaros, if needed. Vastia should be more than pleased with this." He replied, bored.  
"Y-yes my king." Messenger was scared, but Laxus was in no mood for punishment. Lyon was even a worse option for the poor messenger, that man was mad. He stood up and went in the direction of the military headquarters.

Laxus was left alone with his own mind, getting lost in his own thoughts.  
_Was it really Mira?_ That one thought was haunting him like a bad dream. He tried to remember the good, old days. 

It was the year when the youngest of Strusses has died. Lisanna was her name. Laxus was nineteen back then, he was quite famous in the city ranks with his Lightning Dragon Slayer skills. He had a lot of enemies and not too many friends because of his harsh personality. But there was a young girl that was always keeping poking him, in a good way. Mirajane Strauss was fifteen. She was a frequent visitor in his house. Back then he was living with Makarov, his grandfather and Archont of Olympus.

That day Laxus came back from a scouting mission and he was really tired. He entered his room and just lied on a bed. He was wearing a yellow shirt and his headphones that were designed in a weird style. Dragon Slayer could hear a girl yelling to him from the outside of the building.

"Fight with me Laxus!" He opened the window, it was her again. Girl with white hair was standing near his garden.  
"Dammit, I said that I don't want to. Why don't you leave me alone?" He replied irritated.  
"Tch, you are just scared!" Mira kept yelling at him  
"Scared you say?" He aimed his one finger at her and a bolt of lightning struck her feet.  
"That hurt you know?!" She was persistent.  
"Just go! And don't try to come inside my house ever again!"He was about to close the window, when his grandfather showed up.

"Oooooh. Hello Mira, you want to come in?" Makarov asked her.  
"Yes, pretty please." She was making a sad puppy face.  
"No, no, no, no! Gramps don't let her in!" Laxus was yelling but it was already too late, she was in their house. After a short while Mira was in his room yelling

"Fight with me!" She had fire in her eyes.  
"And If I win will you leave me alone?" He asked resigned.  
"Yes! But I will beat you this time!" She started to use her Take Over Magic, but Laxus caught her by her head and just threw the girl out, through his window.

"At last I can have some peace!" He said out loud. But after a short while she was back upstairs.  
"You bastard! I wasn't ready, and what attacks a girl!" She was yelling at him again.  
"Wha-?! You wanted to fight so I gave you a fight, now leave!" He was getting frustrated. She stuck out her tongue.  
"Why are you so persistent?" He asked resigned, when she sat on his bed.  
"Because I want to strong like you, so I can protect my brother and sister." He wasn't expecting this kind of an answer.  
"So you just need to train more, but I warn you, I'll be always the strongest, because I want to become the King of this city." He smiled to her.  
"So promise me Laxus, promise me that you'll protect us all!" He put his hand in her hair, messed them up and said  
"I promise."

Laxus smiled at the memory of the happy days. Even that she was younger than him, she got tremendous power. He could always feel it, but she was too hasty, too young to master it. 

He was standing before the portal to the Zeus' Royal Chambers there were about a dozen of lifeless corpses around him. After the Avatar Crisis began everyone has gone nuts, but he could do it, he could kill the King of Gods and became the only ruler in the Olympus. Laxus was power hungry back then, the possibility of becoming a god was tempting. It was a final test of his abilities. He was about to get in the portal when someone called him.

"Laxus!" It was Mira, she was running to him.  
"What is it?" He asked not even turning to her.  
"Please don't go there, you'll be killed. Besides you know that killing a god isn't something righteous." She was practically begging him.  
"You don't understand… It's my destiny. I was born to become a god and the King!" He yelled at her.  
"Please, stay with us. You are powerful enough, Laxus. You don't need any more power, just don't risk everything for a puny dream." She was trying to reason with him.  
"You think about this as a puny dream?! I need to protect this city, and I will protect it even from the gods if I must to!" He stepped in the beam of light and vanished.  
"I-I will wait here for you… Laxus." She stood between the corpses, not even moving an inch.

Dragon Slayer was in unfamiliar place. It was a beautiful and strange place, everything was so majestic there. But he could see an old man with long beard sitting on his flawless throne.

"Be gone mortal." Zeus said emotionlessly and threw a lightning in his direction. There was a loud crash, but Laxus was standing there, unaffected.  
"You picked a wrong opponent, old man." His face was dead serious.

"Tch. To think that I would need to taint my own hands with a human blood. What a disgrace." Zeus started to throw dozen of lightnings in Laxus' direction. Dragon Slayer was too fast, too agile. He was dodging them with child's ease. When he was in range of hand to hand combat Laxus attacked Zeus with his fist imbued with the power of lighting, but the god was just standing there, unaffected.

"You thought this would hurt me mortal?" Zeus asked amused.  
"Shit!" Laxus cursed and they started exchanging blows. They were standing steady on their feet. You could call that fight a draw, yet Laxus was starting to lose his strength. He needed to do something fast or else he could perish. When Dragon Slayer was lost in his thought Zeus hit him with his both fists right in the chest and he hit him hard. The power of his attack sent young Laxus flying through the room. Dragon Slayer had an idea, it was risky but it was his last chance. He charged right at Zeus, his right hand was somehow minimized to something like lightning needle. God just took the hit and grabbed Laxus by his shoulders.

"You are mine, mortal. There is nowhere to run, there is nowhere to hide. You thought that you can just kill me with a needle?" He broke young man's shoulders, but Laxus lightning needle was still stuck inside the god's chest.

"I just needed to pierce through your body..." Zeus eyes became wide, but it was already too late. Laxus' hand was back to its normal shape and it was inside his guts. Blue blood began to drip from the god's mouth.

"You fucking mortal, you will die in an instant!" He yelled furiously, but it was too little, too late..  
"Heaven's Light" A beam of lightning came through Laxus' hand tearing the god in half and covering young man, now the highest god in blue blood. His wounds were healed, but he was too exhausted to do anything.

Back in the city Mira was still waiting for her friend to show up, she was worried about Laxus. For her aiming for the spot of a god was like a dream of a mad man. Suddenly she saw a familiar figure forming right in front of her. It was Laxus his clothes were soaked with blue blood, Mira was terrified.

"What on earth did you do?!" She started to cry. Girl was hitting Laxus in his chest with her tiny little fists, her head was down.  
"I did what had to be done. Now I'm the King of this city and the King of all gods." He replied and looked at her, but all he could see were her white hair.  
"You stupid moron!" She yelled at him rising up her head, she was still crying, Laxus was surprised.  
"What if you wouldn't make it?!" She was yelling at him.

Laxus just place his hand on her head and said "I once promised you that I will protect you all, and with this power I'm finally able to do it," he smiled, and the girl stopped crying and just gave him a hug.

All of a sudden Laxus expressions became grim. His next memory was the one that he was trying to forget for the last fourteen years, but no matter what he couldn't do it. It was haunting him like a bad dream.

It was a beautiful day. Laxus was sitting in his, not so long ago obtained, throne in the Heavenly Palace. He was a King for just three months but he already liked it. Wealth, power, friends he got it all. He was about to stand up and take a short walk but suddenly the main door to the throne room has opened.

Mira was holding Lisanna's body in her arms. She was covered in scratches and bruises.

"Laxus! Laxus! You need to help Lisanna!" Mira was screaming through her tears.  
"Wha-What happened?" He asked surprised and ran closer to her.  
"Elfman went on a rampage and she was trying to stop him. B-But he wouldn't listen to her." Mira answered, her whole body was shaking.  
"Where is he now?" Laxus asked, concerned.  
"He's unconscious but fine, Demi Squad got a hold of him"

Laxus started to examine Lisanna's body. He was no doctor but he knew that she was already dead.

"Mira… I'm sorry, but I'm afraid there's nothing I can do..." He started but Mira interrupted him.  
"No! No! No! She will be ok, you promised me, remember? You said that you will protect us." His friend was on the edge of sanity, he could see it.  
"Mira I..." He was trying to get to her.  
"You lied to us! Where were you, when Elfman was tearing apart our home? Where were you Laxus!?" Girl was getting more and more out of control.  
"I was here, in the palace. Now please, calm down." Laxus tried to reason with her.  
"You are just like the rest of the puny gods! And now Lisanna is dead and you don't want to bring her back! I hate you, you hear me? I hate you!" She was in shock, he couldn't blame her for what she was saying.

Guards have walked inside the throne room and made a circle around Mira. Laxus didn't know what was happening.

"Please move aside, my King. We'll take care of her" One of them said.  
"What do you mean?! She may be a little lost but this girl is my friend and is in-"  
"She killed nearly fifty of our best men on her way here. She's clearly a threat. Stand aside my king."

Laxus couldn't believe it. He looked at his friend with wide eyes. She was holding tightly a lifeless body of her younger sister.

After that day he didn't saw her again. No, he was wrong. He saw her on the day of the attack. She was standing behind Hades, she even said his name. Why she was with him? He didn't now that.  
Laxus was now 33 years old, but he looked like 23, thanks to his powers. He thought about Mira appearance back in that day, she should be 29, yet she looked like he was 21. It made him think that she made some kind of a pact or deal with Hades.

"What are you up to Mira..." He said out loud and after few second it hit him. It was so obvious.

_Lisanna,_ this name rushed through his mind. Now everything was clear to him like a cloudless sky. But there was nothing that King of Olympus could do about it, not right now. Laxus had a plan forming up in his head, plan that will allow him to bring his old friend back on his side.

* * *

Gray was sleeping when he felt something dragging his clothes. He opened one eye and saw Lillis, who was pulling him by his shirt.

"What do you want? It's early, let me sleep a little more." He turned his back to her.  
"Gray, you promised that you will go with me to my favorite spot today!" She was relentless.  
"Yeah, yeah just give me five more minutes..." He clearly didn't want to get up.  
"Buuuuuuut Gray. Let's go, now!" She insisted.  
"Ugh, ok you little demon." He started to get up.  
"Yay! I'm a demon, just like you!" Girl screamed happily.  
"Tch, sure you are." Gray smiled to her.

He got up and started to search for food that his little friend have made him for breakfast. Gray decided to never again ask her from what ingredients it was made because he could vomit again. It was tasty and that was enough for him. The last few days that Icesmith has spent with that girl has reminded him of what he lost, but he was happy with her companionship. She was thinking of him and his demon powers as some kind of demi-god from the legends and he was ok with that. He even repaired her home and made some furniture with his ice magic, so there was now an ice table, chair, beds and even some shelves and wardrobe, not to mention demonic ice fridge with scary face on it. When they closed their house after breakfast and were about to go Lillis started to ask question, again.

"So, Gray… Where are your parents?" Her hair was pinned up in a ponytail.  
"My mother is dead and dad is really far, far away..." His mind involuntarily went to the memories of his father, Silver.  
"Is your dad working somewhere or did he just go for a very long trip?" He loved how this child was innocent.  
"Heh, you can say that he is working in a very dangerous place." Gray replied to her.

Lillis let out a loud _Ooooooh_ and they went in a more unknown direction. He always wanted to make her some clothes but unfortunately they were too cold to wear.

"So where are we going today?" He asked curiously.  
"To my favorite spot! You will like it. The view from there is really beautiful" She was excited.

"We will see," he smirked. Lillis was leading the way, and he was just following her with his demon hands in his pockets. They were going through the Lost City's main road. They could hear the screams and yells coming from the shadows, but no one was brave enough to attack the little girl and her demon-like guardian. Each time their saw Gray's ice limbs they were just retreating back to the shadows. After thirty minutes they were outside the city and started to climb on a hill.

When they were on it Lillis said "This is my favorite spot, Gray. Do you like it?"

View was indeed breathtaking. From the hill he could see a river, but it was no ordinary river. It was somehow green and glowing. He could see hands coming out from the river as if they were trying to catch a bit of air. It was beautiful but cruel at the same time.  
"Wha-What is this?" Gary asked shocked.

Girl sat on the hill her knees were supporting her chin. "It's Lethe, a single drop of water from this river can make you forget everything, hands and figures reflecting in it are actual memories of people that have drunk from it."

"Do you come here often?" He was standing and adoring the view.  
"I want to, but it's hard to come here unnoticed by others... Now let's go back home, Gray." She smiled to him and started to stand up, but he stopped her.

"Wait a minute, I have an idea" He touched the ground with one of his hands "Ice Make: Floor" and the ice has covered one side of the hill making it a gigantic ice slide.  
Girl's eyes were glowing with happiness, she rushed at him and hugged him from behind, unfortunately she had enough impact to made Gray slip and fall on his face, so they started to slide down the hill.

"You little, stupid girl!" He was terrified.  
"Wooooooooooo" Lillis was so happy.  
"Oi! Don't woooo me! We're going to die!" He was still yelling at her. They were still accelerating and they were only halfway.  
"Um... Gray don't you think that we are going a little too fast?" She asked in confusion.  
"Dammit girl! What did I say earlier?!" It was too late, he could see the end of the ice floor.

There was nothing other left for them than prepare for the impact. Gray was just brutally stopped by friction of non-frozen ground, and in result Lillis just flew from his back far, far away. When he got up he was angry and his face was red, but he calmed down when he couldn't see Lillis anywhere near him.

"Lillis! Where are you?!" Gray was yelling, but there was no response.  
"Lillis!" he yelled again.  
"Gray, I'm over here!" She was calling him from the distance. Gray ran in the direction of her voice, and he saw her covered in dirt, smiling and waving to him. He smiled back when he saw that she was ok.  
Suddenly his face became dead serious, much to girl surprise someone grabbed her from behind by her neck and lifted her up.

"Leave me alone!" She was yelling, kicking in air.  
"What we have got here, hmmmm? A tasty little girl, you sure are worth some money," a loathsome voice said.  
"Leave the girl alone and nobody gets hurt." Icesmith said to the slave hunters.  
"Oooooh and you are?"  
"Gray, please help me!" Lillis yelled to her friend.

"Gray? Gray the Cursed Icesmith? Gray the Demon-spawn? Guess we hit the jackpot for today, guys." Boss said in a strange, happy manner.  
"Pffff Gray will kick your asses! Am I right Gray?" Lillis looked at Gray with hope in her eyes, but he had his head down. She instantly became worried.

"Gray?" She asked but there was no response from him.

"Hahahahahahahahaha" Boss of slave hunters burst out with laughter.  
"Let me say something to you, little girl. This man is a demon, he summoned a demon in the center of the park, he tried to use banned techniques and he lost his limbs, he got his mother to sacrifice her life for him. He betrayed his own men when the city was in danger, slaughtering them into tiny little pieces, and nearly killed his own brother. What is more the Main Strategist officially announced that this man is son of a demon and put a ridiculously big bounty on his head." Lillis eyes became wide, she couldn't believe that Gray was the person that boss was describing. For her it was some kind of mistake, but her friend just stood there, doing nothing.

Suddenly a strange cold mist appeared around them, Lillis was shivering. Gray stretched his right arm and pointed one finger in the direction of slave hunters "Ice-Make: Freeze Lancer" and in an instant Lillis was back on the ground. She was too terrified to look back. Little girl could feel some kind of warm liquid dropping on her cheek. Gray turned around and started to walk away.

"Let's go back, Lillis" He said with emotionless voice. She got up, ran and caught up with Gray, but this time she was keeping three meters distance behind him and didn't say a single word. When they were about to turn around the corner she decided to took a peak on that slave hunters.

What she saw was beyond her worst nightmares, four of five members got their throats penetrated by ice lances. But body of the boss was in the worst shape he had two lances cross penetrating his body. They were going through his knees then they were crossing and going through sides of his chest and they were back through his jaw and right through his eyes. Terrified girl looked at Gray's back, and was following him in silence.

After a half-hour they were back in their house. Gray has said nothing. He just went to his bed and laid in it. Lillis was still lost, little girl was trying to process all the information that were overflowing her head. She was scared of Gray but she took a look of tiara which he made for her and remembered all the good things that he did for her. She gathered all of her courage and poked the Icesmithin in his back with her tiny finger, but there was no response.

"Ummmm I don't know if what they said was true, but I know that you are not a bad guy, Gray." She started but again there was no response from him.  
"You made me all this stuff and you always said that it was not a big deal for you..." She decided to sit on his bed. Her feet weren't touching the ground so she was waving them back and forth.

"Remember that one day when I was begging you to make me an ice palace, and you yelled HELL NO! But in the end you made it for me and you even was my butler. That was so much fun!" She said happily, but Gray didn't make a move.  
"I don't know who you were back there in Olympus. Were you a bad guy or a good guy, what matters for me is that you are here and you were always so kind for me and I don't want you to leave, because I'll be all alone again. You're like a family to me. I really never had one, you're like a big brother..." She sat on the ground near his bed.  
"So I won't go to sleep and leave this place unless you say something!" She said more energetic this time. Lillis was sitting like that for an hour but she was getting more and more tired and finally she fell asleep.

In that moment Gray got up from his bed, picked up Lillis from the ground and took her to her room. There he put her in bed, covering with warm sheets. Icesmith looked at her with sad eyes and made an ice-princess doll which he put on her night table, and then he leaned over and placed a good night kiss on Lillis forehead.

"Good night... little sister of mine." Icesmith went back through the door.

But where did he go?


	12. Chapter 12: Expedition

Lillis opened her eyes and saw a doll made from ice. She grabbed the little princess and started to play with her. Smile spread across girl's face, but a sudden realization hit her. Lillis tossed the doll on her bed and ran out from her room. She was heading for Gray's room. Girl was hoping to find him there but when she entered his room there was nothing left there, except for his empty bed. Lillis was standing there in shock. Tears started to run down her cheeks.

When she was crying a certain figure approached her silently from behind and grabbed the girl by her shoulders. Surprised Lillis jumped and turned around to take a look. When she realized who it was she was smiling again.

"Oi! What happened here? Why are you crying?" Gray asked confused.  
"It's nothing _sniff_ I thought that you left me here and _sniff_ and left." She hugged him.  
"Stupid, how can I left behind my little sister?" Girl blushed at the sound of his words.  
"Si-sister?"

"I need to go and complete a certain task, you think you can go with me?" Gray asked, bu he already knew the answer.  
"Yes!" She said with determination and nodded  
"So go pack up, and we will be going." Girl left his room. Gray was already packed, because he has woken up earlier. He got food and equipment that can be useful during their trip to Elysium.

Icesmith walked to Lillis' room to check how she was doing. Not much to his surprise she was packing everything she possessed to her ragged backpack. He found it strange that she didn't pack her new ice doll.

"You are not taking her with you?" Gray asked curiously.  
"She will wait for us to come back home." Girl responded seriously. He couldn't help it and smiled to her. Lillis even packed her precious ice tiara.  
"Yeah, our home..." Gray was thinking about it like it was some kind of abstraction.

When they were outside Lillis asked sheepishly where are they going.

"Did you ever hear of Elysium?" He replied with a question when they started to walk.  
"Umm... isn't that place some kind of a paradise?" She was walking near him.  
"Yes it is, and we're going to look there for a certain man who shouldn't be there. Then we will ask him politely to leave." Gray didn't want to tell her about his mission, it wasn't time yet.

"Ok!" She replied with enthusiasm. "But Gray… What about the Dragons?"  
"Dragons?" He asked curiously.  
"You don't know? There are two dragons guarding the entrance to Elysium." She said as if it was something obvious. Gray became a little concerned. It wasn't something that he was taking into consideration, but he decided to worry about it later. He looked around and saw Lillis with her arms stretched to him, she had those sparkling puppy eyes.

"Ugh, ok..." Gray picked her up and placed her on his own shoulders.  
"Yay, adventure!" She yelled happily.  
"Yeah, adventure…" He smiled.

They started walking through the Lost City, not knowing what they would face in the future.

* * *

In the middle of a night, in a dark forest you could not see anything, yet you could hear animals rushing through the night.

Fox was on the hunt for his prey, he was searching for a lost and lonely rabbit. When suddenly under the animal appeared a purple, magical circle and just like that it dropped dead. From the bushes emerged a little blunette, her clothes were torn apart. You could see reminiscent of military insignia on it. She took the dead animal and started to walk deeper in the woods with her pray on her back.

Levy McGarden was not so long ago a Royal Runemaster. She was a specialist in making traps and preparing ambushes. However hunting was something new for her but she was a fast learner. She just needed to stay hidden and wait for the prey to fell into her trap. It was easy enough for someone as patient as her.

Levy was getting closer to their hideout which was a cave that was hid in the Heart of the Wild. It was the wildest and most dangerous forest in the known world. People were saying that even legendary centaurs were living in it.

That place was full of secrets and deadly traps of nature. Legends were saying that Gaia and Artemis themselves were protecting that forest. Levy put protecting runes around the cave, so nothing unexpected could get inside not to mention dozen of her traps that were set near their hideout. After all, she was as cunning as she was pretty.

Blunette entered the cave. There was a tunnel leading deeper into it. After a while Levy was inside the main part of their hideout. It was really vast on the inside, there was even a small brook going through it, not to mention the entire beautiful flora inside the cave. That place was really beautiful. She could live there forever, if only her situation was better.

There was a blazing campfire in the center of the cave. Levy sat near it and started preparing fox's meat. She looked at a man that was lying a little further from campfire. Gajeel was bare-chested, with bandana in his hair. He was rarely awake. The attack that he had received from Chelia was more serious than she though and the wound wasn't healing too well. When she was done with the fox, Gajeel woke up.

"How was the hunt, shrimp?" Gajeel asked teasingly even in his current he managed to make fun of her.  
"Pffff as good as always," she puffed her cheeks "because I'm Master of the Hunt!" She tried to take a serious pose but it gave quite the opposite effect.  
"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. You and hunting?" Gajeel started to cry from laughter but it hurt him so much that he had to stop after a while.

"You shouldn't move that much, you know?" She said with concern and started to fry meat, that was prepared earlier, on fire.  
"Tch, when I'll be fine I'll show you how to hunt" He stated, looking at her.  
"Sure you will," she smiled under her nose.

There was a moment of awkward silence between them.

"I can't believe that bastard tried to kill you, his own comrade, and his assistant was a friggin monster. I've never seen a little girl with such great fighting skills." Gajeel said looking at the vault of the cave.

"Lyon isn't a person that I can trust anymore, not after that incident with Ur..." She made a short pause ", about Chelia, she's really powerful. Sky God Slayer magic isn't something that you can obtain just like that. As I recall you are a Dragon Slayer yourself, so how did you get your powers? Were you raised by a dragon or something?" She was really curious about that.

"I don't remember anything from the time before I joined the Martyrs Army..." He said with a plain voice.  
"Sorry I didn't mean to..."

"It doesn't matter. Say how a shrimp like you became a Royal Runemaster?" She threw at him piece of hot meat.  
"Aw, aw, aw ,aw aw it's hot dammit!"  
"Stupid Gajeel!" Levy stuck her tongue on him "But I will answer your question, because I'm a CULTURAL person." She started while Gajeel was starting to eat his, apparently now good, piece of meat.

"I was born in the Olympus Trade District. My parents owned a book store there. I was always a… regular kid. Except for my tiny posture and love for books, I read so many of them that I can't even count them all," she smiled to herself „but my father thought that every girl needs to know how to defend herself. So instead of sending me to some self defense classes he sent me to the Military Recon Corps." Gajeel eyes became wide.  
"Your dad sent you to the military?! Was he nuts?" He asked surprised.

"My dad was always a reasonable man. I knew that there must be some hidden motive behind it, but never mind it. I enlisted for the military. You can imagine the looks I got when I entered the barracks for the first time. They were always laughing at me and showing me with their fingers. I was always the weak one. I couldn't do anything in hand to hand combat and nearly failed every endurance test." She said, pulling her knees closer to her and supporting her chin with them.

"So you had it rough." His face was getting much more serious as story continued.

"Yep, but I didn't give up. One day I discovered something known back then as Words of Magic, which are basically runes. So I was studying books about runes at night and in every free moment, trying my best during the day. They thought that I got even weirder, but it all changed when we started to practice in the simulated battlefield zone. There were matches… one on one. No one could beat me back then, of course if I placed my runes properly. They were always falling in my traps." She started to play with a knife. Gajeel was rather scared of her in that moment. He didn't know that that little person was so dangerous.

"When our officer saw that my skills were rather unusual he sent me to a group where I could finally be helpful..." Her expressions became grim.  
"You mean to the Grand Library?" Gajeel was trying to make fun of her.

"No..." She paused for a moment, bringing her knees even closer to her torso as if she was trying to become even smaller. " I meant the Infiltration and Assassination Demi-Squad" Gajeel has nearly choked with the piece of meat that he was eating.  
"YOU SAID WHAT?!" He yelled at her. "You were part of THAT squad?!" He couldn't believe it.  
"You know them?" She asked curiously  
"Sure I know them one time they annihilated nearly half of our troops before the fight even began!" He was still in some kind of shock.

"So as I was saying they put me there. Sure, my skills were useful but I didn't like it there. Killing other people silently in their own homes, by silencing all the sound with my runes or setting ambushes for the massacres where hundreds of people can't even leave the area of my runes, so that we could just kill them off… It was not in my book. I was never really carved for battle, but the goddess Artemis was always fond of my cunning and skills. I've got even her blessing and became one of her champions. That is probably why we're still alive in this forest." Gajeel mouth was just in an O shape, he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"After six months I decided to ask Archont Makarov for help. He pulled some strings and made me a Royal Runemaster who was in charge of the Grand Library. I could finally run off from the war, military and all the violence." She finished, but her face was still full of sadness.

"You are saying that you are Artemis champion, the goddess of the hunt? Do you even know how to hold a bow?" This whole situation was just beyond his imagination.

"I'm kinda good with it..." She started sheepishly. " But I really don't enjoy it."  
"Dammit woman! We need to use all advantages we can get in order to survive this. When I will get better we are going to make you a fine bow!" He yelled with determination.

"Ok, ok you stupid. Just lay steadily, we don't want that wound on your back to open." She tried to calm him down.  
"Tsk."

Levy went to her sleeping bag on the other side of the campfire. She wrapped herself up tightly, but despite that she was still shivering. It was just too cold for her that night.

"You can always come here if you want, gihi." Gajeel said as a joke. He was rather surprised when Levy got up and brought her sleeping bag near him, blushing violently. Dragon Slayer didn't know what to do.  
"Whoa, shrimp what are you doing?" He panicked a little bit.  
"Just shut up, you stupid Gajeel. I'm doing this only because I don't want to freeze tonight." She lay right near Iron Dragon Slayer, clinging to him and still blushing. He placed his right hand on her back,  
"G'Night." and they feel asleep like that, waiting for the morning to come, uncertain of their future.

* * *

The crowd was gathering in the front of the Olympus' Main Gate. It was a special day for the civilians. They could see the march of a special group which one and only purpose was to capture the traitors. No more than few days ago Main Strategist Lyon Vastia made a public appearance and has said that Gray Fullbuster, the Icesmith and Levy McGarden, the Royal Runemaster were both traitors, one of them even released a dangerous criminal from prison.

People were shocked. At the beginning they did not believe in it, but when Lyon has shown them footage of slaughter that Gray made and the scene where Levy was passing keys to Gajeel, they believed him. Vastia was now the hero of the crowd, a holy avenger that would bring justice to the traitors. Little children that were too small to watch the march from the streets were trying to climb up on the boxes standing near the shops or roofs of old houses to watch their heroes go.

People seem to don't mind the rain which was dropping from the sky.

Ahead on his horse was Lyon, with his pink haired assistant Chelia right near him. Everybody in the city knew that that little girl was as dangerous as she was cute. After them were five man in black hoods, nobody could see their faces, or any appearances, they were probably from Infiltration and Assassination Demi-squad.  
Next were Arcadians: Jura, the Hermit, alongside him was Natsu Dragneel, Salamander. Young Dragon Slayer always attracted attention, because of his dragon's features such as red, scaly tail. They were followed by a bunch of the finest Arcadian war hounds. Nothing could match with their tracking skills. And last but not least was little Wendy Marvel, the beloved Oracle riding with Lucy Heartfilia, when crowd has seen them noises of concern were starting to get louder and louder.

Lyon knew that it was not good for his expedition.

"Why are they taking our Oracle? What we will do without her?"  
"They need Aphrodite priestess too?" More questions. Doubts in the crowd were getting bigger and bigger. Lyon needed to react fast or else he could lose all of civilian's support. He stopped the march and turned around to the crowd.

"Listen to me people of Olympus!" Crowd became silent. Everybody's eyes were set on Main Strategist.  
"I know that you have your doubts about this expedition. I had my own too. Why we need our Oracle, you ask. Well she possesses uncommon healing powers and if we combine them with the skills of my assistant over here," he pointed at Chelia who blushed.

"We're nearly invincible. I promise you, residents of Olympus City, that I will bring her back safely. Not even a hair will drop from her head. She will be under my personal protection. We'll find and kill the traitors and bring back their heads on a silver plate. Now let us go on the Hunt!" He yelled and the crowd cheered for them, but not everyone was planning on killing the traitors.

Young Dragneel joined expedition only to find his friend, beat the crap out of him and ask him why he left, what were the reasons behind his actions. He knew Gray very well and just couldn't believe that Icesmith didn't have any kind of hidden motives. Dragon Slayer also needed to protect Lucy and Wendy from Lyon that man was mad. He has lost any kind of reason or logic. He has turned into embodiment of wrath and vengeance.

Little miss Marvel just wanted to find Icesmith and try to reason with him. She believed that everything could be resolved with words, or just simple talk. She believed with all her heart that Gray wasn't a bad person and has just lost his way. It was a miracle that the oldest priestess allowed her to go on this expedition. They were saying that she was too precious to the city, but somehow Wendy managed to convince them. She was still afraid of Lyon. She didn't trust him. He was Gray's brother, and what kind of person wants to kill his own brother.

Aphrodite priestess wasn't someone who you could see often in this kind of field trip, but Lucy as well as others had her reasons to join Lyon's Vengeance Expedition. She needed to find her friend Levy and check if she was alright. Priestess knew that Levy was smart and cunning but everyone was always taking her as some kind of a weakling. She was a former member of Infiltration and Assassination Demi-squad. Lucy knew that finding her won't be an easy task. But it had to be done.

Expedition moved with the applause of the crowd, Arcadian war hounds were ahead. Every member knew that no one can be trusted once they will be outside the walls.

So they went through the rain, searching for traitors.

There was a familiar figure on the roof of highest building around there. Her black feather wings were spread, ready to fly in the skies. She wasn't wearing her long black dress anymore. There was something more like black, leather armor on her. Apparently it was a present from Loke. Armor was covering tightly her whole body, there wasn't a single exposed place. Her hair was shorter now.

Juvia needed to find Gray, before any member form that wicked expedition. She knew how to cure him, all she needed to do was take him to the Elysium and all his problems would be gone. There would be no more need for him to hide, but it required from her stealth and proweress that this rain couldn't provide.  
She closed her eyes and focused all of her willpower.

"Juvia can do it… Juvia can do it…" She was repeating it like some kind of a mantra, but it was no use. It started to rain even more. She tried even harder, by clenching her fist so hard that blood started to drip from her hands.

"Please, do it... do it for Gray-sama." After a while rain was gone, but the clouds were still covering the sky.

_Juvia guess there is still no sun for her_.

Death flew up in the sky, tracking the expedition from a safe distance. The only ones that could see her were two priestesses. She only needed to pay attention to them, or so she thought.


	13. Chapter 13: Old Friends

Lyon's expedition was now at the edge of the forest. People were tired, they rarely got to sleep because Vastia was relentless in his task. Nothing else mattered for him. Arcadian hounds had led them to their current position, which was a clear sign that someone from the traitors was there. Expedition has split up into smaller groups and started to search for runaways. Main Strategist was with Chelia, Lucy, Wendy and one person from Assassination Squad. Jura went alone, he was the most efficient when he was working alone, so Natsu was forced to go with rest of the Infiltration Squad.

They were searching for hours, but they couldn't find anything useful in the Wild. No tracks, no traps, nothing. Lyon was getting irritated and started to smash and crash everything in his way. He even sent his ice creations to search and annihilate everything in their sight. He was a really scary man, if not for Lucy and Chelia, Wendy would just ran away from him.

"Fuck this! There must be something that we're missing. There's no way to deceive Arcadian hounds." He smashed another tree.  
"Master, if I can interrupt, maybe they are using some kind of cloaking spell or something like that." Person in black hood said. Lyon grabbed him by his neck, lifted and started to strangle him.  
"You think that I'm some kind of an idiot?! Of course I took it under consideration. I am the Main Strategist, no one can outsmart me!" He dropped the frightened man on the ground.  
"Lyon we need some rest. There is no way we can go on like this. Wendy is really tired and you promised to keep her safe." Lucy interrupted.  
"Yes, you are right. We go back for now and set up a camp. I need some rest myself." They started to go back.

_Crash!_ Sound of an explosion echoed through the forest. It was followed by screams of agony. Lyon's group turned around and ran through the bushes to the source of that terrible noise. And they found Natsu, there were scattered pieces of human flesh all around him.

"Don't come closer! This freaking forest is full of traps from now on forth!" He yelled at them.  
"Bu-but how? They were our best men." Hooded man asked.

"They were stupid and didn't listen to my advice. I sensed that something was weird about this place and they just rushed through which resulted in them blowing up in tiny, little pieces. Damn, that Runemaster is hell of a sneaky bitch." Natsu said, slowly walking back from the dangerous area.

"We will set up a camp right here. Put the hounds on the edge of this area. This way we will know if they catch even the smallest scent of a traitor." Lyon commanded.

They couldn't know that a certain person was observing their every move, hiding high in the trees from the sight of two priestesses. Her short, blue hair was waving because of the wind blowing strongly that day. Juvia was really impressed with that Runemaster's skills, even she couldn't see those traps which meant that she needed to be careful herself. She was searching for a good spot to observe how that whole situation would develop. Juvia spotted a really high tree and decided to made it her observation point.

Some time had passed and the camp was finally set up.

There were few smaller tents, and a big one that was something like a war room. Lyon, Natsu, Jura and Lucy were in it. Chelia and Wendy had fallen asleep some time ago. The last surviving member of Infiltration Squad was burying what was left of his comrades.

"So what's our plan for now?" Natsu asked, he was really getting tired of all this, especially Lyon's shit.

"We will wait till tomorrow and try to bypass those traps. I marked the approximate position of their hideout basing on the deployment of the Runemaster's runes. If we take this one that killed the Infitration Squad as the outer security ring and look for a cave in the proximity of... let's say one kilometer which seems like only reasonable distance to me. We get this cave in the center of the traps ring." He said while drawing everything on a map.

"You can act as a madman sometimes, but you sure are worth your title." Natsu replied with respect in his voice.  
"Thank you Dragneel. Now we must think how we can attack them in that cave. They could set more traps there, do you have any ideas?" Lyon asked.

"Ummm... I may know a thing or two." Lucy started and everybody immediately looked at her.  
"Levy once told me how she did the things, when she was in Assassination Squad..." She paused, blonde wasn't sure if telling them her friend's secrets was ok, even if it was a greater good.

"Please continue young priestess." Jura said to her.

"Her last line of defense was always some kind of rune ring around her hideout, negating all noises, smell etc. If we could somehow attack directly their base without activating the ring, they should be helpless." Jura and Lyon exchanged glances.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking, young Strategist?" Hermit asked him.  
"Probably yes" He smiled.

"This is all for now. Tomorrow we'll attack their hideout. You are free to go now." Lyon stayed in the War tent. Jura went directly to his tent to grab some shut eye and Lucy and Natsu were sitting near the campfire in silence, staring at flames.

Finally one of them has spoken.

"Do you think that I betrayed her?" She asked sadly.  
"No, Luce. She should be thankful for a friend like you. You'll see, Levy will be ok. What is concerning me right now is what Lyon will do with Gray if he ever finds him. I mean..." He paused.  
"Yeah I know... but don't worry we'll bring him back and stop Lyon if he'll try something drastic." She assured him and smiled. After that short talk they went together to their tent.

It was really peacefully in the camp, but there was a winged person roaming around it. Juvia was still wearing her black leather armor. Somehow it did not seem to restrain her movements. She entered the war room and spotted sleeping Lyon in the corner. Death goddess was thinking for moment about killing him. He was the one who wanted to kill Gray after all, but she refrained from it. Juvia was checking maps and documents lying on the table in hope that some of them would contain something about Gray's location, but there was nothing about him. It seemed that she needed to wait a little longer before they'll find anything. Juvia went out of the tent and flew to her hiding spot. She needed some sleep as well.

* * *

That day Levy woke up near Gajeel, again. Even that it wasn't so cold anymore it was much nicer to sleep clung to him. She was still blushing at the memory of that. She didn't consider it as something harmful, for her it was just nice, not to mention that he was really, really warm. After those few days that had passed Iron Dragon Slayer was back in shape. His wound had healed completely. He was still sleeping when Levy heard a worrisome noise, as if someone was tearing the sky apart.

Strangely it was really familiar to her. It took her few seconds but she remembered where she heard that noise. Her eyes instantly became wide.

"Gajeel wake up!" She yelled at him.  
"Just give me five more minutes woman..." He was still sleepy.  
"It's no time to make jokes! Wake up! Now!" She yelled again, but it was too late. The vault of the cave started to crack. Gajeel jumped on his feet.

"What the fu-" He started but big boulders were already dropping from above. He needed to use his Iron Dragon's Sword to protect them both. Levy was trying to understand what was happening, but that whole situation was beyond her comprehension.

"You miss me guys?" Lyon was standing on his ice-dragon with Jura.  
"Lyon? What are you doing here?" Levy was shocked. She couldn't understand how he was able to find them so fast.  
"I was in the neighborhood so I thought that I'll drop by and say hello to my friends. Finding you wasn't so hard, you know? But those trap of yours were quite a nuisance, they killed good men. Now, will you go with me? Or maybe we need to do this the hard way?" He was teasing her, that cocky bastard.

"Bu-But how you passed through my Rune ring?! It's nearly impossible!" She was lost, nothing made sense to her.  
"You'll need to thank for that to your dear friend Lucy. She can be really useful, sometimes."  
"No way! She wouldn't do it!" Levy was trying to displace it.  
"I don't have time for this. I need to catch one more traitor." Lyon was very confident.

"You mean Gray? I doubt that you'll be ever able to catch him, you always were... how to put it ... worse than him." Gajeel looked at her with wide eyes.

_What the hell she's doing. _He did not think that enraging Lyon was a really good idea.

"Silence! That pathetic excuse of an ice mage is mere trash! He's nothing more than disgusting abomination!" Lyon started to lose his cool.  
"Lyon you shouldn't..." Jura was trying to calm him down, but was interrupted by Levy's speech.

"You say so? As I recall that _mere trash_ kicked your ass pretty hard. Everyone in the army was laughing at you. Main Strategist got his ass kicked by an invalid with prosthesis limbs. Oh and remind me please where is Ur? Is she still a giant ice cube?" Levy was playing with the devil there but it was their only chance. She needed to make Lyon angry and lost his cool and that was the only way to do it.

"YOU LITTLE SHIT!" Lyon was gone, not even Jura could stop him. Main Strategist charged mindlessly at the traitors with his ice-dragon.

That was the occasion that Levy needed.

"Now!" She yelled to Gajeel. "Iron Dragon's Roar," in a split second Lyon and Jura were hit by a point-blank range spell and crashed on a wall.

"We need to get our asses out of here shrimp, but I still can't use my Shadow Techniques, so hold tight." Gajeel commanded and hugged her with one of his arms.  
"Wha-" Was all she was able to say.

"Iron Dragon's Slayer Club," his right arm started stretching. It was lifting them up, through the hole in the cave, like some kind of an elevator.  
"Ok, I think that we're safe f-..." Levy started but stopped when she saw two familiar figures on the other side of the big hole in the cave's vault.

"Levy is that really you?" Lucy could hardly recognize her friend with all the scratches and bruises that she had. Not to mention that her uniform was practically in pieces.  
"Why Lucy?! Why did you do that?!" Little blunette asked. There were tears forming in her eyes.

"H-He promised that he won't hurt you." Priestess was trying to justify her actions.  
"But he's Lyon! You should know that you can't trust that bastard! He's mad!" Levy was yelling through her tears.

"You need to go with us, Levy. If you want to continue living your life as a Runemaster, that's the only option for you." Natsu interrupted them. His face was devoid of emotions. He and started to walk in Levy's direction.

She was terrified. She was no match for the Dragneel in her current state.

"If you want her you need to get past me first." Gajeel stepped in front of Levy. It made her look like she was hiding behind his back.  
"That can be done." Salamander replied unamused by the other Dragon Slayer statement.  
"Please don't hurt her Natsu. She's my friend!" Lucy was trying to stop him but it was no use. Dragneel was tapping with his tail in a rhythmical manner. He was only doing that when he was intoxicated by the thirst of the battle.

"Fire Dragon's Iro-" Natsu was preparing his attack when somebody hit him in his head with a knee. He flew a few meters and dropped from the cave's vault. That person was wearing dark, leather armor and had black feather wings. Juvia landed lightly on her feet and sent the priestess a death glare. After that she grabbed Levy and Gajeel and just flew away from there, leaving Lucy confused and all alone.

Juvia was flying really fast. She needed to find someplace safe, away from that whole expedition. Only then she could celebrate finding her long lost friend.

"Wha-What is happening?! Why are we flying?!" Levy was scared.  
"You can't see her?" Gajeel asked surprised.  
"See who?" Little blunette was getting more and more confused.

Gajeel could have sworn that the goddess dragging them was looking familiar to him, yet he couldn't remember where he saw her.

Lyon was conscious again. He was aware that his defeat was only his fault. He promised to himself, that he will personally rip the heads of the traitors along with their spines.

* * *

They were travelling for five days now, but because of the nature of that place they couldn't exactly say how long it was. From time to time they had encountered some minor demons or slave hunters, but Gray was handling them with ease. When they were walking Lillis was always on his shoulders. She liked the view from the top of his head. Little girl could feel big and mighty and Gray looked like he didn't mind that. In fact some could think that said girl was key for him to keep his sanity. They were moments when he could feel his demon powers taking over. But every time he saw scared Lillis near him, he managed to come back.

"Ummm Gray..." Girl started sheepishly. Icesmith knew that she was about to ask something embarrassing.  
"Yes?"  
"Is there you know..." She started to blush.  
"I do not" He replied simply.  
"Is there a girl that you like? You know like…. really like." She blushed violently. Gray thought for a while and answered.  
"No there is not."  
"Are you sure? I always thought that someone like you would have a dozen of girls." She was digging that topic.  
"So you were wrong." He was getting annoyed with this.

"Really? There wasn't a single girl that was caring about you the whole time when you where in Olympus?" Lillis seemed to be relentless. Gray's mind drifted away to the time when he was lying in hospital. He remembered someone who was with him all that time.

"There was one person..." He said involuntarily, but stopped after coming back from his memory trip.  
"Good, I would like to meet her. I must know is she's good enough for my older brother." Little girl's face was dead serious.  
"Tch, sure, sure but she's not an ordinary person you know?" Gray smiled, he was teasing her.  
"It doesn't matter my brother deserves the best. She will need to pass my tests!" Icesmith thought about Lillis 'testing' Juvia and nearly burst out with a laughter.  
"I don't think that would be a good idea. She's not quite the person you would like to piss off." Gray was trying to change the girl's crazy ideas.

"Hmpf, ok." She pulled his hair.  
"Oi! What was that for?!"  
"Just me being a little sister." She stuck out her tongue, but he couldn't see it.

Time was passing quite nicely but it was all disrupted by Lillis' yelling.

"I see it Gray! We're here!" When he looked closely he could see a tremendous gate made from green marble in the distance.

"Ok, let's hurry up." He started to run so fast that Lillis nearly fell off his shoulders. They were near the gate when Gray started to examine it. It was just some kind of a solid green marble wall. Lillis was running around him, trying to help, placing her ear to the door and knocking on them.

"Gray I can't hear anything from the other side. Are you sure it's here?" She asked him politely.  
"I don't know, ok? Maybe the living can't enter the Elysium after all." He said with resigned.  
"Don't give up Gray!" She was full of enthusiasm but just in moment it was replaced with fear. Girl started to tremble.

"What happened, Lillis?" Ice mage was concerned about the little girl. She pointed in the distance in response. There were to figures approaching to their current position.  
"D-Dragons..." It was all that she could say to him.

Two of them were getting closer and closer. Gray could see their appearances. They were both young men of average height, but except that they were totally different.

The one on the left had blonde hair and was wearing a short blue vest that was exposing his muscular upper abdominals. He also had dark blue gloves reaching up to his mid-bicep and loose pants.

The other one had quite long black, messy hair. He was wearing a long black cape reaching down to his feet. Below it he had a plain grayish tinted shirt with brown cuffs. He had also pale blue, cloth waist guard consisting of four long pieces of cloth reaching down below his knees.

They weren't emanating any kind of power, but they stopped a few meters from Gray and Lillis.

"So you have already come, Icesmith." Blonde haired one said.  
"How do you know me?" Gray asked suspiciously, little girl hid behind his back.  
"Tch, everybody knows you down here." Other one replied.  
"Who are you anyway?" Icemsith was getting irritated.  
"We're the Twin Dragons guarding the entrance to Elysium. If you want to enter the Sacred Land, you need to beat us. I'm Sting Eucliffe and this is Rouge Cheney" Blonde said politely.  
"Tsk, it will be easy enough. Lillis, go and hide somewhere." Gray said to her.

"Mmmmm… Gray I don't like this. Can we just go home?" She asked pleadingly. She was scared of the Dragons in front of her.  
"No."  
"Just be careful brother. I don't like them." She ran off to a safe spot, from where she could watch their fight safely.

* * *

Erza was sitting in her 'room' but it was more like a prison to her. Sure she got everything she wanted, but the awareness that Jellal's body was taken by Hades, was slowly killing her. Titania knew that he was somewhere there. Every time when she addressed the King of Underworld as Jellal she could see him flinching a little bit as if it was some kind of response from the real Jellal. A sign that he was still fighting High priestess was also worried about her friends. She did not know what happened to them after the attack on Olympus. Since then her home was a damned golden cage. Erza assumed that she was some kind of a bargaining card for Hades in case of Laxus' attack.

She had long, wavy scarlet hair with and elegant, loosely tied knot at the back and was wearing a long black backless dress with a leather collar on her neck. It was the symbol of her enslavement. Erza stood up and started to walk to the throne room. Hades was sitting on his throne and as usual he was drinking wine from his golden cup.

"Why are so sad priestess?" He asked her teasingly. She said nothing to him. Hades stood up and walked up to her, he touched her cheek with his hand and grabbed her collar.  
"I know exactly what you want..." He whispered in her ear, Erza's body involuntarily shivered.  
"There's a way to restore your friend to his previous state." Hades said while turning his back to her. She grabbed his hand.  
"Tell me how, I'll do anything" Hades smiled.  
"Did you say anything?" He asked with an evil smile.  
"Yes." She was determined.  
"Good, but now it's time for us to pay a visit to your old friend. You remember Gray, right?" Erza's eyes became wide, but before she could say anything they were already embraced by the shadows.


	14. Chapter 14: Defeat

Twin Dragons were just casually standing there, smiling to him in a teasing way. Gray was looking carefully at his opponents. He needed to be sure that Lillis was somewhere safe. If she was not he would not be able to use his full power in battle. Icesmith was still unaware of his opponents' powers so it was reckless for him to attack them directly. He decided to take the first move with a long range attack.

"Ice-make: Freeze Lancer," bunch of ice lances went in the direction of his opponents, but they were all rejected by them with just their bare hands. It looked like Gray's enemies were not weak after all.  
"Shall I go first, Rouge?" Blonde man asked his comrade.  
"Do as you wish. I do not care about this fight." Raven haired man replied emotionlessly and sat on a nearby rock. Sting charged at Gray with his bare hands, but ice mage was prepared for something like that.

"Ice-Make : Death Scythe," a giant, deadly weapon appeared in his hands while he was rushing at one of the Dragons. When they clashed the ground started to tremble, even uninterested before Rouge raised his head in curiosity. Two men were testing their strength. It was like some sort of impasse where two identical forces collide.

"Looks like you're no weakling, Icesmith." Sting said and started to press on Gray harder.  
"Tch, you will be dead in no time," was all he replied, but blonde man smiled evilly.  
"White Dragon's Roar!" That attack forced Gray to perform a dodge. He gained some distance between him and his opponent.  
"Tsk, so you're a Dragon Slayer, just as I expected. I guess they don't call you a Dragon for nothing."  
"I guess so. How do you plan on dealing with it?" Sting asked.

"Just look." Gray switched to his Ice Bringer and charged at surprised Dragon Slayer, who did not have enough time to react. He landed a successful attack and sent his opponent flying.

"You Dragon Slayers are pretty resistant to standard magic attacks, but what about some demon Ice-Make, huh?" Gray said in a victorious manner, but his expressions became grim when he found out that Sting was mostly unscratched.

"I'll show you why Demons are beneath us, Dragons." Blonde man said seriously.

"White Drive." An aura of bright light was covering Sting's body. He disappeared for a moment and reappeared right in front of Gray. Icesmith did not have enough time to block the incoming attack.  
"White Dragon's Punch." That attack sent him flying. Gray's ribs made a crackling noise and he spit out some blood. Icesmith was way too close to his goal, so losing in that fight was not an option for him. He managed to turn around in mid air and counterattacked with one of his signature techniques.

"Ice-Make: Arrows," in a brief moment thousand of ice arrows were fired. They were supposed to overwhelm Sting, but blonde man was prepared for a situation like this.

"Holy Ray!" Barrage of beams was sent in the direction of Gray, destroying all of his arrows in its way and then hitting directly the Icesmith. Ice mage fell on the ground. His body was covered in bruises and scratches. It was definitely a tough fight for him, but he needed to win it.

All that time Lillis was hiding behind a big rock, covering her ears with her hands. Little girl was scared, so scared that she did not have the courage to even take a peek of how the fight was going. She did not know if Gray was winning or not. Suddenly she felt the ground shaking when a familiar feeling hit her. It was a feeling of immense cold, that made her take look at the battle from her hiding spot. The battlefield was slowly changing into a frozen arena.

Gray was lying in some kind of rubble that made was from his impact. He was unconsciously freezing everything around him. Ice mage was close to his limits but there was no demon mist around him. He was still himself. He stood up. Blood was dripping from his mouth. Gray had a terribly looking wound on his back, it was probably from the impact.

"Oh, so you managed to survive that. I am impressed." Sting said to him.  
"I just needed a little motivation," he looked at the place where Lillis was peeking on his fight from her hideout.

"Now, let me show you how it's done. Don't lose your focus, don't relax even for a second or it will cost you your life." He said to the blonde man. The ice covering battlefield was progressing.  
"Ha, ha, ha. You really think that you can defeat me with this Ice Floor? You sure are a funny guy, Icesmith." White Dragon Slayer was amused.  
"Sting you idiot, get out of there!" Rouge yelled to him, but it was already too late.

"Ice-Make: Gungnir" He got hit by two colossal, ice spears which appeared from the frozen floor. As a result of that Sting got trapped in a block of ice. He was unable to move, but Gray wasn't about to stop there.  
"Ice-Make: Gungnir," a normal sized spear appeared in Gray's right, demon hand and he threw it. He was aiming for Sting's heart, but it was stopped by Rouge's Shadow Dragon's Roar. Newcomer walked right to his comrade trapped in a block of ice.

"Gungnir, Odin's sacred spear... Legends say that it always hits its target. He's the god of those barbaric Nords. How you're even able to use a spell like that?" Rouge was getting a little scared of Gray.  
"Who knows?" Gray replied teasingly. He was in his battle trance and started to rush at his new opponent.

"Ice-Make: Impact!" A hammer, monstrous in size appeared above Rouge's head, but he was able to dodge it.  
"Too slow!" Dragon Slayer was in a big trouble. Icesmith had him right there where he wanted to. Gray jumped to him with his Cold Excalibur in his hands and landed a direct hit which sent Rouge flying. Icesmith knew that victory was not beyond his reach, but Cheney got up like nothing has happened.

"Eh I guess we'll need to use that after all. C'mon Sting, how long you wanted to wait with it?" There was a dark aura surrounding him. After a while the same thing happened with Sting. He was still trapped in ice, but he was surrounded by a white aura. Gray eyes became wide. He could not believe what was happening, the ice block where Sting was trapped just shattered.

"Dragon Force!" They yelled in unison and Gray was thrown back just by the air pressure surrounding the Twin Dragons. When Icesmith looked at them he thought that he was dreaming. Their bodies were fully covered in actual dragon scales, and the energy they were emanating was on a horribly high level.

"You have the right to be scared. It's completely normal for a puny being like you. Now prepare to be destroyed, because where is light there is always a shadow." Rouge said as he was vanishing in Sting's shadow. Gray could not comprehend what was happening, but he needed to think fast.

He decided to take the initiative and attacked first with Ice Bringer. It was providing him the highest possible mobility in his state. Sting simply dodged it, but the fact that Rouge emerged from blonde's shadow caught Gray off guard. It allowed Shadow Dragon Slayer to land a point blank hit on the Icesmith. Gray was taking a heavy beating from them, but he had one last ace up his sleeve.

"Ice Make: Ice-Canon" He started to shoot missiles right at them, trying to make them back off, to create some distance between them. It was now or never for him. The only problem was that he never did it with his new, demon limbs, but he needed to try. Gray stopped. He was standing with his head down.  
"You finally give up?" Rouge went out of Sting's shadow. It was the opportunity that Icesmith was waiting for.

"Ice Make..." He paused for a moment. "Unlimited."

Vast amount of ice weapons started to appear around Gray. All of them were connected by some kind of a large ice chain that was surrounding him. Twin Dragons were just standing there, their eyes were wide in surprise.

Icesmith grabbed the ice chain. He was only able to perform one swing in his current condition, so he needed to make it count.

"One Sided Chaotic Dance!" Gray yelled and all of his weapons were thrown in the direction of his opponents. They were not only flying at them from Gray's side. They were even rising from the frozen floor like spikes trying to pierce through his opponents.

Gray was so exhausted that he fell on his back. He did not have any strength left, but it looked like he did it. Every bone in his body was crackling. Icesmith could hear that someone running in his direction. It was Lillis, she was crying and yelling at the same time.

"You did it Gray!"

When the girl was finally near him, she became terrified.  
"Please don't die Gray! I will go for help, just lay here and don't move." Lillis was panicking. He looked like a total mess.  
"Shhh Lillis, don't panic. Everything will be alright. I need you to bring me one thing from our backpacks, ok?" He was trying to calm her down a little bit.  
"_Sniff _ Y-yes." She nodded.  
"What is it?"  
"You just need to find a long, black feather in my backpack and then break it. Can you do it for me?" He asked her gently.  
"Y-yes!" She ran to the place where she hid their backpacks.

Gray was feeling relaxed, he was just one step away from entering Elysium. It seemed like he wasn't able to fulfill his promises after all.

_She will take good care of her._ He smiled to himself.

Ice mage heard a loud crash.

_She sure is fast._He turned his head to the direction where it came from and saw two people. One of them looked familiar to him. His eyes became wide when he realized who it was.

_Erza and Hades_. He didn't know what they were doing there but it could not be anything good.

They were getting closer and closer to him.  
"So you aren't dead, after all. I expected my pawns to do better than this." Hades stated.  
"Gray, are you okay?" Erza asked worriedly, but she did not try to help him.  
"Y-yeah." He replied to her.  
"What you want from me, Hades?" He asked bluntly.  
"It's nothing special, just this necklace of yours." He pointed at it.  
"My silver necklace?"  
"Gray just please give it to him." Erza begged him which seemed rather unusual.

Their conversation was interrupted by someone.

"Fuck you, Icesmith. You are the real, but still, you're not enough to beat us." Gray's eyes were filled with fear. It was Sting's voice. Twin Dragon Slayers were heavily wounded, but in opposition to Gray, they were still able to walk.  
"And look what we have found." Rouge was holding Lillis by the back of her neck.  
"Leave me alone you stupid Dragon!" She was kicking in the air, trying to get free. There was also a broken black feather in her right hand.  
"What we should do with her, my Lord?" Blonde man asked  
"Kill her." Hades stated. Gray's and Erza's eyes became wide.

"You can't do it!" Scarlet yelled at him.  
"You remember our little arrangement, don't you?" He did not even turn to her.  
"Y-yes." She obeyed him. Gray couldn't believe his own eyes.  
"Erza what the fuck is going on?!" He yelled at her.  
"I'm sorry… I can't do anything..." Icesmith was trying to get up, but it was pointless. He was too weak.

"Gray! Please, help me! I don't want to die!" Lillis was yelling through her tears.  
"Leave the girl alone, I'll do whatever you want!" Gray was begging them.  
"Unfortunately there is nothing you can offer me. Rouge, hurry up and do it." Hades commanded his subordinate.

"You were in a wrong place at the wrong time. Please, do not have any grudge against me." He said to the girl and then turned to ice mage.  
"Look, Icesmith. This day is the day when all that you hold dear perish." He ripped off girl's left arm and leg, tossing her alongside Gray. Icesmith was observing with wide eyes as her little body was falling.

"NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU! AND YOU TOO, ERZA! YOU HEAR ME?! I WILL KILL YOU ALL!" He was yelling through his tears. Erza was hiding her face from him, it was too much for her. She felt disgusted by her lack of action.

Gray could feel something tapping his right shoulder. It was Lillis' right hand. He turned his head to her. She was white as snow, puddle of blood was forming under her tiny body.

"Are we going home now, brother...?" She asked.  
"No, please no. Lillis stay with me." But Gray could not do anything. His heart was tearing apart.  
"... but Gray... you promised..." The light in her eyes faded.

In that very moment Gray's whole world became black. He lost the last ray of light in his life and did not even know where he was anymore. Everything was covered in the darkness, but he could see a familiar pair of yellow eyes in there. They were always watching him.

"You want to save her?" Devilish voice asked him.  
"Yes." Gray answered with no sign of emotions in his voice.  
"You know the price."  
"It doesn't matter. Nothing does as long as you'll save her and keep her safe."  
"It's nice to make business with you, son of Silver." White grin appeared in the darkness.

Hades was about to claim his victory by removing Gray's necklace from his body. It was a little strange for him, because Icesmith was not moving for quite a while.

_Maybe he's in some kind of a shock._

Suddenly an ice hand grabbed him. He instinctively jumped off, but what he saw was very, very unusual. Gray was getting up from the ground, but his eyes were different. They were somehow yellow, inhuman you could say.

"Who are you?!" Hades asked.  
"Ooooooh, so you know that I'm not Fullbuster?" He smiled in an evil manner. Erza was terrified. As a high priestess she could feel who was in possession of Gray's body. It was a demon. He walked to Lillis' body and placed his hands on her wounds. She was instantly healed and started to breathe once again. He even made her ice limbs, same as Gray had.

"Ok, she's safe. Now it's time to have some fun!" Demon said happily.  
"Did you just resurrect her?" Rouge asked in disbelief.  
"It's none of your concern. God, I need to change my appearances a little bit. I can't be walking around like this."

Grayish scales started to cover all of his body. Ice spikes growing from his knees and elbows got longer, there were also new ones coming right out from his spine. He got also a pair of horns and an ice tail.

"Better."  
"Answer our Master's questions!" Rouge yelled and grabbed the demon by his arm.  
"Rouge, get the fuck out of there!" Sting was trying to warn his comrade but it was too late.  
"Frozen Plague." Demon said emotionlessly. After those two words ice started to cover Rouge's Body.  
"GET IT OFF!" But there was nothing that could stop that spell. He was changing into an ice sculpture. When it was finished Rouge shattered into tiny, little pieces.  
"ROUGE!" White Dragon Slayer yelled.  
"I can use only the same magic as the host, but damn… Icesmith's ice magic is top notch. Silver you've a talented son. Sadly he's in my hands now." Demon was performing a monologue.  
"You will pay for this you fucking demon!" Sting rushed at him, but demon grabbed his head before he was even able to react and threw him on the ground.  
"I remember you. Sting, was it? Your pal was the one who has said that demons are beneath dragons, right?" Demon kicked him in his chest. "Apparently he was wrong, so wrong. Oh and you should remember that Gungnir _always_ hits its target." He pierced Sting's heart with an ice spear.

Erza was terrified by that being's power. It was tremendous.  
_Is it the demon from the legends?_ She could not believe in what she was seeing.

"Who are you?" Hades asked once again.  
"I don't have a name." Demon replied, uninterested. "Tell me where is Silver."  
"He's not here, as you can see. Give me that necklace of yours and I'll think about helping you."  
"I'm afraid that I cannot do this. You see, this necklace and this brat's body are the only things that can lure Silver out from his precious 9th Gate."  
"So why won't you go with us? You can wait for him in my castle." Hades proposed.  
"I don't like you, whatever you are, but I'll accept you proposition. Staying here will be boring, but there is one thing that I need to do first." He made something that looked like an ice letter.  
"What is it?" Hades asked curiously.  
"This is a last message for the little girl from Fullbuster."  
"Are we going to leave her here?" Lord of Underworld looked at the girl.  
"There's someone coming here for her. Now let's go." Hades, Erza and the Demon vanished in the darkness, leaving unconscious Lillis in the middle of the Frozen Hell.

* * *

They were hiding in a cave, high in the mountains, on the edge of the Wild. Juvia, Gajeel and Levy were safe from the Expedition. They even started a conversation, when the adrenaline dropped a little.

"Juvia is so happy that she has found you, Gajeel-kun!" She hugged him. Tears were dropping from her eyes. Dragon Slayer was feeling uneasy, because he did not know who this woman was. She saved their lives, so he assumed that she was on their side.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I don't have any idea who are you." He said apologetically.  
"_Sniff_ Juvia knows, but she will try to remind you." She smiled widely.  
"Who are you talking to Gajeel?" Levy asked, she could not see anyone.  
"Ah, Juvia forgot!" Suddenly she became visible for the little blunette. Levy instantly paled.  
"De-Death go-goddess?" She mumbled terrified.

"Yes, but fear not. Juvia won't hurt Gajeel's girlfriend."  
"Girlfriend?!" They both yelled in unison, blushing.  
"Sorry, Juvia misunderstood." She said apologetically  
"We should be safe here from Lyon's Expedition." Levy stated after looking around the cave. It surely was beyond Lyon's reach.

Suddenly Juvia felt a pain in her chest and nearly fainted from it.  
"What happened goddess?" Levy asked concerned.  
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no." Juvia was repeating it like a mantra. She dropped to her knees and caught her head with both of her hands.  
"Oi! Juvia, what happened?" Gajeel asked, but she was already lost, her mind drifted away to the memory of that day.

* * *

Juvia was sitting on a chair near Gray's bed at the hospital in Olympus, he was still sleeping. She liked how peaceful he was looking in his sleep as if he did not nearly destroy everything on his rampage. There was also another reason, when he was asleep he could not hear her.

"Ummm Juvia knows that you're asleep Gray-sama, but she wants to give you something..." She said while snatching one of her black feathers.  
"This is a present for you." Goddess placed it on his night table.  
"It's no ordinary feather. It'll allow Juvia to..." She stopped for a moment. It was painful for her.  
"…to come and take your life when the time comes." Tears were forming in her eyes.  
"So when you'll be on the verge of death, please brake it and Juvia will know where you are. She will come immediately to... to take care of you." She started to cry in silence.

* * *

"We need to go to the Elysium Gate, NOW!" Juvia yelled at them, she was panicking.  
"Ok, ok just chill a little." She grabbed Gajeel by his clothes.  
"You don't understand anything... Gray-sama is there."  
"Gray? What are we waiting for? Hurry up and transport us there Gajeel." Levy commanded. She wanted to save her friend.  
"Ok, hang on." He grabbed two blunettes and vanished in the shadows.

* * *

**AN: **Thank you for reviewing this story. It really means a lot to me.


	15. Chapter 15: Revelations

There was a loud crash when the party had landed. Juvia and the others emerged from the dark mist which was a side effect of traveling through the Shadow Realm. That journey took them quite some time but it was still faster than flying there from the Wild. After the dizziness has passed Death instantly flew to the place where her black feather was used, leaving Gajeel and Levy behind. Juvia found the body of the White Dragon Slayer. It was pierced with an ice spear. She flew high in the sky to get a better view but it did not help. All that she could see was a frozen battlefield. There was no clue of what happened with Gray.

Death slowly flew down. When she was back on the ground she dropped to her knees. That whole situation did not make any sense to her.

"Did you find him, goddess?" Levy asked sheepishly. She had a worried look on her face.  
"Juvia didn't find anything… there is nothing here, except for the body of the White Dragon." She said with sadness. Gajeel turned around to take a look at the dead Dragon Slayer.  
"Damn. He sure took a hell of a beating. That Icesmith must be some kind of a monster." He said with some kind of respect.

"No... It wasn't him. Can't you feel it?" Juvia said resigned, she was still on her knees. Goddess could felt it, the tainted power surrounding them. Gajeel closed his eyes and focused for a moment.  
"Demon..." He said with anxiety in his voice and then continued.

"So he was able to pull a trick like that after all. I really don't remember you goddess, but I can tell that you were rather close with him."  
"Juvia was... admiring him." She said more to herself than to him.

"If you're interested, there is a way to know what happened here…" Levy said after carefully looking around.  
"What do you mean?" Juvia asked curiously.  
"I know a technique that allows me to replay things that happened. It's like a projection of the past." Little blunette started to explain. She was really proud of that technique.

"So why are you waiting? Do it dammit!" Gajeel yelled at her.  
"Ok, ok." Levy made a really big circle of runes that was covering nearly the whole frozen battlefield.  
"But I must warn you, it will look like it's real. Are you ok with that?" Runemaster asked concerned.  
"Yeah, just do it." Gajeel hurried her.

The three of them were standing outside the marked area. Little blunette clapped her hands together and started the incantation.

"Mighty river flows, unaffected by anything. Dead ones whispers its name. Unforgivable, merciless, unyielding Time. Guide us! Connect! Show us the past! History of the Fallen!" The area surrounded by the runes exploded with bright light. Levy was in some kind of a trance. She could hear others and talk to them, but she was unable to move.

Gajeel and Juvia could see clearly what has happened.  
How Gray and a little girl have found the gate. How he was fighting twin dragons with all his strength. How Erza and Hades appeared and finally how he had thrown his humanity away. After all that tears started to run down Juvia's cheeks. It was too painful for her to watch how Gray was turning into some kind of twisted monster that did not resemble human anymore. She felt disgust and hatred towards that unholy being. But she also feared his yellow eyes. He was only a projection of the past, but she could feel how those eyes were trying to burn through her soul.

"Please stop, Juvia begs you to stop." She couldn't take it anymore. There were at the part where the demon, Erza and Hades were vanishing, leaving the little girl alone in the middle of the frozen hell.  
"Wait, there is someone coming." Gajeel noticed a blurred shape coming from the far end of the area.  
"Dammit, why it's blurred?! Shrimp try to do something about it."  
"I-I can't..." They could see a fuzzy shape picking up the unconscious girl from the ground and immediately disappearing after that.

Exhausted Levy dropped to her knees. That spell was taking a lot of her energy, but it was definitely worth its cost. She looked around her. Gajeel had a serious face and Juvia was still crying. She was mumbling Gray's name.

Iron Dragon Slayer decided to take action.

"It looks like Icesmith is gone for sure, one person less to worry about." Juvia looked at him with craziness in her eyes.  
"D-Don't speak of Gray-sama as if he's no more." Gajeel got closer to the goddess and grabbed her by her armor.  
"He's not longer himself. There is nothing we can do about it, are you unable to comprehend that? You are supposed to be a Goddess, not some fucking teenage girl." He said to her harshly.

"Gajeel, stop it." Levy tried to stop him, but she was too exhausted to really do anything.  
"No, she needs to understand this." He barked out at the little blunette.  
"B-But Juvia loves him." Death said. She was scared, her whole world was getting turned upside down.  
"And does he love you?" Gajeel asked, but only silence answered him.

"That's what I thought. You're living in a lie. He tricked you, and now he became a demon. There is nothing left of him. Icesmith that you have known is gone. Do you understand now?" He looked in her eyes. It started to rain, again.  
"Yes, Juvia… understands." He let go of her.

"Goddess if there something you need ju-," but Levy was interrupted by the Death.  
"No. Juvia knows what she needs to do." Her face was dead serious, something has changed in her.  
"Which is...?" Gajeel asked.

"Juvia needs to take Icesmith's life as she should have done the first time when they've met." Her eyes were somehow empty, as if there was something missing in them. She put a faint smile on her face and turned to Iron Dragon Slayer.

"Even if you don't remember, you're still a good friend Gajeel-kun." He looked up into the sky. Rain was hitting his face. After that he looked at his arm, where a certain sentence was carved.

_Remember the rain.  
_  
"Yeah I may not remember, but I know..."

Levy decided to break the silence.

"We still don't know who that guy was, and why he took that little girl with him." She was thinking about it for a while, it did not make any sense to her.  
"We'll talk about that later. Now we need to find a hiding spot where we can rest." Gajeel replied, he was worried that some tough enemies might come there, lured by the high level magic that was used in the battle.

"Juvia knows a safe place, please follow her." They moved slowly forward, leaving the frozen grave of Gray's sanity behind.

* * *

Lyon, Natsu and Lucy were in the biggest tent in the camp. Strategist was back to his senses after his failure. He was beaten like a child and what was even worse by that little Runemaster. It looked like rumors about her cunning skills were true after all. But that wasn't t the topic of their meeting.

"Tell me Dragneel..." Lyon started "How the hell were you defeated?"  
"I've already told you. It was like something invisible hit me." Natsu was massaging his jaw. It was hurting him like hell.  
"But someone must have seen it." Vastia looked on Lucy. She was avoiding his gaze, clearly she was hiding something from him.

"You want to tell us something, priestess?" He asked her but she remained silent.  
"I'm telling you Lyon that there was no one there. It was some sort of a Runemaster's trick." Natsu insisted.  
"You may be right." Vastia's eyes were still on Lucy.

"You know what, Dragneel? You should check if Jura doesn't need any help with those hounds of yours. They are hard to control. If you know what I mean." He made a fake smile.  
"Hah, they can be real troublemakers." Natsu smiled and left the tent.

"Umm... I think I should go as well." Aphrodite priestess said sheepishly. She got up and started to go out, but Lyon grabbed her arm.  
"I think that you should stay." He had piercing, cold eyes.  
"I really need to go, Lyon." Lucy was getting scared. She heard tales about Lyon, and they were not those of a good kind.

"Maybe I need to repeat myself. I think that you should stay." His grip on her arm tightened.  
"Ok, ok I'll stay a little bit longer." Lucy sat back on a chair. She was wearing nothing more, than a long, white dress. Some might say that it was a little bit revealing, but it was how Aphrodite priestesses liked to look, alluring and seductive, overwhelming men's senses. Lyon walked up to the table with a bottle of alcohol in his hand.

"Do you want some wine?" He asked her gently. Lucy could not find out what he was up to.  
"Yes, please." She thought that drinking wine with him would not do any harm.  
"Now, please tell me what you saw back then on the top of that cave." He sat right in front of her with a glass of wine in his hand and was looking at her with those piercing, black eyes of his.

"I don't know what are you talking about, I haven't seen anything." Priestess was trying to bluff. She needed to protect the information of Death helping Gray as long as it was possible.

"You sure are a stubborn. I don't really want to become enemies with you, Lucy." The air temperature in the tent started to drop. It was making her shiver.  
"Lyon, please stop this." She was really scared now. It was starting to look like some kind of interrogation.  
"Just answer my question and you will be free to go. It's not that much if you think about it." He was persistent.

"I should really go." Lucy stood up and was trying to get to the exit, but he grabbed her and pushed against the stake supporting the whole construction. She was caught off guard so he managed to freeze her ankles and wrists to the stake. Priestess was looking like a slave, waiting for her master to punish her. Lyon was covering her mouth with his hand, so she could not scream for help.

"Now, I will remove my hand and you'll behave nicely." He commanded Lucy and she nodded in response.  
"What you want from me, Lyon?" Priestess was scared, but she had heard enough tales about Lyon's interrogations to know how to behave in her situation.

"I want the truth and my advice for you is to hurry up… or it'll be getting more and more uncomfortable for you." He was not moving away from her. In fact he was leaning closer and closer. She could feel his ice cold breath on her neck. The worst part of it was that it felt good, Lucy was disgusted by herself.

"I know that you don't appreciate this. What would you precious Dragneel think if he'd catch us here. Just tell me what you saw back then and it'll end." He insisted, whispering into her ear and then biting it a little bit. Lucy let out a moan and blushed.

She needed to choose between keeping the secret about Death Goddess helping Gray and getting involved with Lyon's mind games. He was indeed a Master Strategist. He could cause so many emotions in the same time like pleasure, guilt and disgust.

"You... You're sick." It was all that Aphrodite priestess was able to mumble. He was moving his cold hands across her bare back and hips. She was involuntarily biting her lower lip.

"Some people says so, but isn't madness just an idea of living our lives?" The ice covering her ankles and wrists started to spread, covering more and more of her body. It was just a thin layer, but it was enough to make her lips blue.

"Ok, I'll tell you... just please... stop." She begged him and he stopped but priestess could still feel his cold breath on her neck.

"It was the Death Goddess. She was helping Gray all this time. You couldn't see her because you are not a priest. Gray… He made a deal with her." Her ice shackles instantly disappeared. Lucy fell to the floor and Lyon was back in his little world of revenge.

"I knew it, I fucking knew it. There was no way he could survive that fight with Deliora. But how he managed to lure a goddess on his side? This is very interesting, I must investigate it later. You are free to go, priestess."

Lucy stood up walked out of the tent. She hated herself for revealing the information, all that she wanted to do was to dig a hole and die in it. She needed to take a bath, a long one, but unfortunately they were in the middle of the Wild.

A loud scream bring her back from her thoughts.

"Help! Somebody, please help!" It was Chelia's voice. Lucy rushed to girl's tent, only to find frightened God Slayer and a pale Oracle in there. High priestess know what was going about to happen. A new prophecy was coming. Wendy started to limply levitate, her eyes were closed. She started to speak with an unnatural voice.

_**Once he was by the despair blinded,**_  
_**and he became what he always despised,**_  
_**wherever he goes the Death will follow,**_  
_**he feels no guilt, because his heart is hollow,**_  
_**there is no mercy in his yellow eyes,**_  
_**for his opponents awaits only ice,**_  
_**but there is a way to stop his madness,**_  
_**you need to cure little girl's sadness.**_

After that Wendy fell on the floor. Lucy rushed to help her. She tried to wake her up, but it was no use, little girl was still unconscious after her prophecy. In the corner Chelia was trembling from fear. Her eyes were full of anxiety.

"It was about that cursed Icesmith, wasn't it?! He became a demon!" Chelia yelled. She was too scared to remain calm.  
"I knew it. I knew it that he was a demon. Master Lyon was right all this time!" Girl started to cry. She was terrified of him since she first time saw Gray. Even the brief memory of him was making her collapse.

* * *

Lillis woke up with a scream. The last thing that she could remember was an image of crying Gray. He was in great pain, his whole body was immobilized by chains.

She looked around the room. It was unfamiliar to her. Wherever she was, it was not their home. Little girl jumped off the bed and had that strange feeling, like something was missing. She looked at her hands and feet and her eyes became wide. Her left limbs were missing. Instead of them she got an ice ones, just like Gray did. She was happy, because she thought that now they have something in common. Lillis always was a little jealous of Gray's demon limbs. But then it hit her that her brother was not there. She was alone in a unknown place. Girl sat on the ground and started to cry. She did not know what to do. Suddenly the huge doors to her room have opened.

There was a middle-aged man with dark hair and a stubbly beard standing in them. He had a large scar running from the top of his forehead down the left side of his face until it reaches his left ear. He was wearing two earrings, one on each ear, with crosses at the end of them. His attire was that of plated chest armor with the words "ABSOLUTE ZERO". He also was wearing a black bottom, gloves and shoulder armor with two golden hammers painted on them. It was the symbol of Tartaros.

Lillis stopped crying and asked shyly.

"Who are you, mister?"  
"Hello there little girl. My name is Silver and yours is?" He replied politely.  
"My name is Lillis, nice to meet you, mister. Ummm... can you tell me where am I?"  
"You are in my home." Silver smiled to her.  
"Did you saw my brother anywhere?" She asked, looking around.  
"Brother?" Man was surprised.  
"Yes! I've an older brother. He was there with me, his name is Gray!" Girl said energetically.  
"I'm sorry but it looks like he left. He told me to give you this letter." He gave her the ice letter. Lillis touched it and it opened.

_Dear Lillis,_

_If you read this it means that I'm not around anymore. I left for a very important quest, that feather that you broke should summon a friend of mine that we were talking about. You will definitely like her. She is very nice and will take care of you until my return. Please be good to her. I promise that I will come back for you and then we will play any game that you would like, just wait for me._

_See you soon,_  
_Gray_

Little girl dropped the letter and it shattered on the floor into tiny pieces. She started to cry once again.

"H-He left... He left just like everyone else." Girl's hands were shaking.  
"Don't worry. He'll be back." Man was assuring her.  
"And how can you know that, mister?!" She yelled at Silver.  
"I know my son. He'll keep his promise no matter what." He smiled to her. Lillis' eyes became wide.  
"You're Gray's daddy?" She was shocked.  
"Yes, and I guess I'm yours too, now?" Lillis was still sad, because Gray wasn't there, but that new information gave her new hope.  
"Do you believe in him?" He asked.  
"Yes!" Girl said with new enthusiasm. Silver picked up the little girl up and sat her on his shoulders.  
"Now, let us take a look around your new home." He said and walked with her through the doors.

* * *

**AN: **It took me forever to edit this.


	16. Chapter 16: Dinner

They were sitting in some kind of a dining room. That place was enormously big, but it was no surprise, after all it was in Hades' Palace. Dark Lord, as the host, was placed at the head of the table. He was wearing his usual dark cape with a hood. On his left was sitting Erza in her black, backless dress. She had long, wavy hair with an elegant, loosely tied knot at the back. She had guilt and sadness painted all over her face. On the other side of the table was sitting a nameless demon, who was in possession of Gray's body. He looked rather bored. His ice legs were on the table, and he was playing with his tail. On the right side of Hades were sitting also the Strausses. Both of them had confused looks on their faces. They did not have a clue about what was happening.

Finally the servants started to serve the food. It was made from the finest ingredients available in the Underworld.

"Nice place you've here. I could just kill you and take all of this for myself." Demon said to the god.  
"You can try if you want. But then you won't be able to find Silver, not even in a thousand years." Hades was aware of the difference in the raw power between him and his guest, yet he was acting very confident.  
"So, how we should address You, our blessed guest." Mira asked politely. Her master told her how to behave around their special guest. She was afraid of him. Take over mage could sense a strange and great power emanating from him, however she could not name it. She was a user of demon powers herself but he was something else. It was like he did not belong in their world.

"As I've said before, I don't have a name." He simply replied. He was not even looking at anyone in the room. Apparently, the ceiling was far more interesting for him.  
"But people must have called you somehow. A being wielding such power couldn't be unnamed." Mira smiled faintly, and a devilish grin appeared on the monster's face.

"You're a right, lady. They used to call me Kai." Strangely demon paused there for a while.  
"Yo, big guy. Aren't' you eating anything?" He looked at Elfman who was too afraid to really do anything.

"Ah, please forgive my younger brother. He's just intimidated by you." Demon's yellow eyes focused on Mira's face, and he smiled in response.

They started to eat. The whole dinner was passing without any excesses. After twenty minutes servants came back to take empty plates, and brought wine for the guests.

Suddenly, there was a loud crash. Everybody turned their faces to Erza, whose hands were on the table.

"Why, tell me why he did that. Why Gray has sacrificed his own life. I demand and answer!" She yelled at Kai. Titania could not take that anymore. Her doubts were killing her from the inside. She needed to know.

"Isn't it obvious?" Demon asked her. Strausses were looking at the whole situation with curiosity.

"You saw it with your own eyes priestess. That little girl was the only person in his life worth saving. Even I can understand why he did it. Abandoned by his friends. Abomination, hated by the people. Cursed Icesmith, it was the name that people gave him. His own brother wants to kill him. If you could only see him as did I, you would know that he was on the edge of sanity. However I still couldn't take over. He was still resisting. But after he got these magnificent limbs I was able to easily take over his heart whenever he was raging on the inside. You must have heard about the Ice Demon's Rampage in Olympus." He stopped for a while to let his words sank in Scarlet's mind.

"When Gray met that girl he was finally able to find some peace. Sadly, she died right in front of his eyes, so he was forced to make a deal with me."

"Liar! Gray would never do something like that." Erza stood up she was ready to fight with Kai in defense of her friend's dignity.

"Let me ask you this, priestess. Where were you when he was dying? Where were you when that girl was bleeding to death? Oh yes, I forgot! You were right near him, yet you've done nothing and you call yourself a friend of his." Erza sat back, hiding her face in her hands. Even the servants standing near them stopped and were listening carefully.

"A-a-a. No eavesdropping, peasants." Kai raised up his hand and all of the servants got pierced by ice spikes that came up from the floor. Mira's eyes became wide. Right side of her face was covered in blood.

"Damn, I hate servants. Now, will somebody show me my quarters?" Demon asked, jumping off his chair as if nothing has happened.  
"Let me show you them personally since you've killed most of my servants..." Hades stood up and they vanished in the dark corridor, leaving three, speechless people inside the dining room, surrounded dead corpses that were impaled on ice spikes.

* * *

Erza was lying in her royal-sized bed. She was wearing more casual clothes and her hair was loose. Titania was constantly replaying in her mind the moment when she left Gray on his own, back at Elysium gate. Suddenly someone knocked on her door, dragging her out from her imaginary hell. It was rather unusual thing for her to have guests and she was not expecting anyone.

"Please come in." Erza sat on her bed.

It was Mirajane Strauss. She was wearing Martyr's Infiltration Squad uniform, after all, she was the highest in rank there. Everybody feared her. Surprisingly the two ladies grow fond of each other. There were not many women in Hades' Palace, and they had much in common.

"Ummm... I saw earlier that you weren't handling well that whole Icesmith thing, so I decided to drop by and check on you." Mira started. She did not want to make Erza more sad or depressed. She wanted to help her.

"I left him and that little girl for a certain death, Mira!" Scarlet yelled, tears began to form in her eyes.  
"I became a monster. I'm no better than that Kai guy." She hid her face in her hands.

Mira walked slowly to the bed. She sat right near Erza and began to stare somewhere in the distance.

"No, you're not a monster. You feel guilt and disgust towards yourself. This means that you're not a monster, Erza. You're nothing like Hades who kills everybody without any hesitation. We're just mortals, and in the end all of us are driven by our selfish needs. What is more, you made the right choice back then. Leaving your friend resulted in saving his and that girl's life." Erza looked at her carefully. Elfman's sister looked like she was somewhere else. Somewhere far, far away.

"You want to bring back your beloved friend as much as I want my sister to be alive once again. There's nothing wrong in chasing you dreams, even if it makes you look a little selfish in the eyes of the others as long as you don't lose your humanity when walking down that path."

"But what's the point of living a life full of regret in order to obtain one, selfish goal?" Erza asked. Mira looked at her, she had a dead serious face.

"I remember each man that was killed by me since I joined Hades' side. Because of that I can't sleep or even eat properly. The feeling that I've each time when I kill a person who trusted me with his or her life makes me want to kill myself. But if that will bring Lisanna back I will do it even a thousand more times if it's needed. If you don't want to believe me you can ask my brother. I don't care what people think about me as long as I can bring her back." Titania looked at her with sad eyes.

"What about Laxus?" Mira's eyes became wide. She did not expect that.

"How do you know about him?" She raised her voice.

"Hades has told me. He finds that story quite... amusing." Scarlet tried to grab the white-haired woman's hand.

"Amusing?!" She stood up and walked to the door, but when she was about to leave Erza said something that made Mira stop in her tracks for a second.

"Every year he visits an unknown grave. On that day you can hear the skies crying with thunders. I believe that's your sister's place of rest?" Titania was trying to stop her from leaving.  
"Goodbye!" Mira left, slamming the door and leaving a clueless Erza behind. She was walking through the corridors with her head high, but as soon as she was alone in her own room tears started to run down her cheeks. Take over mage rested her back on the door. Then she started sliding down the wall until she was sitting on the floor.

"You remembered for all these years, Laxus." She was quietly sobbing in her room, where nobody could see her.

* * *

Kai was lying in his bed. He was uninterested in Hades's plan. All he cared about was killing Silver, nothing else mattered for him. If he would defeat him he would be finally free. Demon was brought back to reality by a loud crack that floor in his room has made. He looked around the room and saw a young, beautiful, dark haired woman standing in his room.

"I know you. You're the woman that has sent us on that stupid quest." He said.

"Ooooh so you do remember. I must say that I'm impressed. I never thought that Icesmith had something so powerful hid inside of him." She took a seat.  
"What do you want, Witch?" Demon said with disgust.  
"You even know my title, how scary." Ultear was teasing him. "I'm here to propose you a deal."  
"You should know that making deals with me can be dangerous. Take a look at Icesmith and his body. He's now just a vessel for me."  
"But a very handsome vessel, I must admit that I like this demonized body more." She smiled at him deviously.

"What are you up to, woman?" Kai was getting lost in her words.  
"I always wanted to kill that pathetic ice mage. He was one of my mother's beloved pupils. But now he's gone and you're here, so why not to take an advantage of this?" Ul smiled again.  
"Tell me more..." Demon was getting interested.  
"I assume that when you'll kill Silver, for any reason it is, you'll have a lot of free time. So why don't take over the Pantheon?"

"Sounds nice, but what's your interest in all this?" He asked curiously.  
"Oh, you know, I'll be right by your side." Ultear stated matter-of-factly.  
"You'll betray Hades?" Demon asked surprised

"He's nothing more than just another pawn in my hands, not to mention that I find demons much more interesting." She stood up and got in the bed where Kai was lying.

She sat on him, so he was lying between her legs. Ultear leaned and kissed him, her hands were on his face. It felt a little strange for her because of the scales that were covering his body. She broke the kiss only to see his piercing, yellow eyes looking at her lustfully, and a devilish grin appeared on his face.

"Let me show you how it is done, mortal." Demon said and turned the whole situation around. He was on the top now. Kai was holding her hands tightly with his own demon ice ones. He started to gently lick and bite her neck. She was letting out little moans as his biting was intensifying.

"So you want a demon?" He asked, whispering into her ear and biting it afterwards.

Ultear let out a quiet "mhm," and bit her lower lip. The goddess was aroused. She always wanted to do it with some kind of a tainted creature that her mother despised. Given that he was once her mother's apprentice was making her want to do it even more.

Suddenly she felt that her hands were being frozen to the bed. She opened her eyes widely with surprise. Kai had a scary smile on his face. Ultear tried using her Lost Magic but it was no use, the frozen shackles would not disappear.

"Surprised?" He asked."This demon ice won't melt even in million years." He ripped off her clothes, leaving her in nothing more than underwear. Temperature in the room started dropping really quick. She started to shiver. Demon tied his tail around her neck and started to suffocate her a little bit. She did not feel like that in a long time, fragile and defenseless.

"I forgot to warn you that demons like it rough, but since you're a goddess your wounds should heal in no time."

After that the only thing that servants could hear coming from his room were screams, but no one knew if they were from pleasure or pain.

* * *

Juvia brought her new allies right in front of a strangely looking, little hut. They were all soaked wet from the rain.

Levy and Gajeel had confused faces.

"I don't think we'll all fit in there." Levy said shyly.  
"Don't let your eyes deceive you, Runemaster. Not everything looks as it seems." Juvia replied to her with a dose of mystery in her voice as she was entering the hut.

When the three of them came inside, the newcomers could not believe their eyes. It was so vast, so spacious on the inside. Mahogany furniture and exotic decorations made it look even better. Levy rushed to the bookshelves gasping in awe.

"These books are so rare! I can't even!" She blushed from excitement.  
"Tsk, nerd." Gajeel mumbled under his nose, but certain little woman heard it and threw a knife in his direction yelling "Stupid Gajeel!". He miraculously evaded it. It was easy for him to forget how deadly she could be.

"Oh I see that you've brought us guests, Juvia." Loke appeared out of nowhere, scaring everybody.  
"Who the hell are you?!" Gajeel yelled at him.  
"Easy there, I'm Loke, and you are in my house." He said cheerfully,and smiled.  
"Ummm... I'm Levy McGarden the former Royal Runemaster and this is..." She pointed at Iron Dragon Slayer, but was interrupted by the orange haired man.  
"You don't need to introduce Mr. Redfox. He's quite famous here for his... accomplishments." Loke said coldly, that man could be Juvia's lost friend but he killed a lot of people.

"You should go to the guest rooms and change, more appropriate clothes are awaiting for you." They were still wearing their old, torn uniforms.  
"Your rooms are on the end of that corridor." He pointed the way for them.

"Thank you!" Levy said cheerfully and dragged Gajeel with her.

Loke was alone with Juvia in the main room. His face was far more serious than a second ago.

"Did you find him?" She was trying to avoid his gaze.  
"Yes." Goddess replied emotionlessly, but the truth was killing her on the inside.  
"So why he's not here with you?" Loke was getting worried.  
"Icesmith has been possessed by a demon. He sacrificed his humanity, this time with a positive result. He did it all to save a little girl." Each word was like a needle, piercing right through her heart.

"What are you going to do about it?" Loke asked curiously.  
"What there is to do? Juvia will kill him as she should long ago." She said while taking off her black leather armor.

"And you think that will solve the problem? You love that man even if he's a demon. You won't be able to kill him, he's too powerful now."

Surprisingly calm conversation continued.

"Juvia will not distract her mind with such childish things. He can't be saved, there is no way to reverse such thing." Goddess was persistent. She was putting on her favorite black dress.

"It's your call, but don't blame me later if you'll regret your decision." Loke said with rather sad voice. There was no way that he would believe in her words. He knew that she was thinking otherwise, but he did not want to drag that topic anymore.

Fortunately, for him, their visitors were finally back in brand new clothes. Levy was wearing a short, orange dress and a red bandana on her head. Gajeel got himself a pair of jeans, casual red t-shirt, black leather jacket with metal spikes on the shoulders and a green bandana.

"See, stupid? I knew that a bandana will fit you." Little blunette smiled widely.

"Yeah, I guess that you were right..." That sight made Juvia forget for a moment about her own problems. She was so happy that she found Gajeel. Even if he did not remember her, he was still the same old friend from her childhood. Loke led them to the table that was full of drinks and food. They have not eaten a good meal in ages, so they were practically devouring everything. Levy was no exception. After they were done god of dreams brought some wine and they started to sip it.

"You two make such a cute couple." Loke said to Dragon Slayer and Runemaster. In result to his words Gajeel spat the whole wine that was in his mouth and started to choke and Levy broke the glass in her little hand, blushing violently. Juvia helped her friend and gave the little blunette another glass of wine.

"Oh so you're not a _couple_?" Loke put an accent on the last word. Gajeel nearly choked again and Levy broke another glass in her hand.  
"Stop this, please." Juvia begged him.  
"Ok, ok I promise this is the end of it." He laughed out loud. He was having so much fun.

"No, we're not." Little blunette said when her face was back her normal color.

"But we are sleeping together from time to time." Gajeel said matter-of-factly.

Juvia covered her mouth with a hand and blushed. Loke smiled victoriously and Levy broke another glass of wine, but this time there was no blush on her face. She had a murderous gaze.

"Stupid Gajeel!" She grabbed a fork and stabbed him with it in his leg then she got up and ran away from the table to her room.  
"Juvia will talk with her." Death goddess stood up and rushed after Levy.

Gajeel was left in the room with Loke. He was slowly processing what just happened.

"You aren't good with ladies, are you?" Orange haired man asked him, but there was no response.  
"Hello, world to Mr. Redfox, please respond." God tried again.

"THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?!" Iron Dragon Slayer yelled. "DID SHE JUST STABBED ME WITH A FORK?! FORK?!"  
"Shhhh calm down, you are a big moron. There're things that you don't tell in public, you know?" Loke was trying to reason with him, but Gajeel was still in his little world where he was trying to understand why he had a fork in his leg.

* * *

Juvia was knocking on Runemaster's doors.

"Please Levy let Juvia in." The door slowly opened, there was a little crying blunette standing in them.  
"_Sniff _What do you want, goddess?" Her eyes were red.  
"Juvia only wants to talk. Everybody knows that it was just a misunderstanding." Levy let her in. They sat together on Levy's bed.  
"Yeah, I know..." Runemaster said much to the Juvia surprise.

"So why did you run away?"

"Do you promise not to tell anyone?" Levy asked  
"Juvia promises."

"It's because… I actually, you know… kind of... like him..." Little blunette blushed. Death could not help but smile.  
"...but this whole thing is so crazy that I don't even know what to think about it." She started to play nervously with her dress.  
"I mean not so long ago we're enemies. He tried to kill me, but yet I ended up as a traitor and from that day on we were partners in crime. Everything would be better if not for that damned Lyon." Juvia flinched on the sound of that name. She despised that man from the bottom of her heart.

"He's like a spirit of vengeance, restless in his task. He won't stop until he gets Gray's head." That gave Juvia an idea, a risky one but it was worth a shot.  
"Listen to Juvia. If you really like Gajeel you should wait patiently. He is very, very dense, but when the time comes you'll know if he feels the same way about you. And please, don't stab him with the fork again, ok?" Levy laughed.

"Ok, I can promise that. But can I at least hit him from time to time?" She smiled to the goddess.  
"Yes, yes you can. He needs that." Juvia was about to leave the room when Runmaster asked her something.

"I'm really sorry for Gr-... I mean Icesmith. It was you all the time on that chair, right?" Juvia's hand twitched.  
"Yes, but how do you know? Juvia doesn't remember you there." She was confused.

"I was there only once. It was after his Divine Punishment... He didn't talk or response to any form of communication. He was just staring on that exact chair with sad eyes. I couldn't even move it. You must have been sleeping or something." Juvia could feel that her knees were getting weak.

"Juvia needs to go. It was a good talk, Runemaster Levy." Goddess closed the door behind her and ran to her room.

Death desperately needed to lie in bed.  
She wanted to forget everything: the time when she first saw him, the hours spent with him in the hospital, the kiss she gave him before his execution, his rampage and the fear that it caused in her. She wanted to erase that man's existence.

The only way to do so was through his death.

Juvia was lying in the bed. She had her face pressed into the pillow. She sobbing quietly and cursing the man, for whom she was able to stop the rain. Goddess remembered all the pathetic teenage-like fantasies that she made up in her head about their future.

She imagined them having two kids, a boy and a girl. Boy would have blue hair, wings and would be able to use water magic.  
Girl was supposed to resemble her father. She would have limbs slightly covered in ice, and would be an ice magic user with a serious attitude.

However in Juvia's current situation it was like a madman's dream. She needed to kill Gray, and sooner meant better.

Lyon Vastia was a key player in her plan.


End file.
